Senator Delivers a Historic Speech on the Senate Committee Report on CIA Torture

Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, today delivered a historical speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate regarding the Committee’s 6,300 page report on the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) former detention and interrogation program following the September 11, 2001, terror attacks. Her speech comes after several media reports, including this one from The New York Times, of alleged CIA interference and, possibly, CIA spying on the Committee during the course of Committee staff's work completing the report.

CVT applauds Senator Feinstein for her continued leadership on finalizing the report and her efforts to declassify and release it to the American people. CVT has long called for the Intelligence Committee to vote in favor of releasing the report.

We particularly welcome these critical passages from her speech:

I also want to reiterate to my colleagues my desire to have all updates to the committee report completed this month and approved for declassification. We’re not going to stop. I intend to move to have the findings, conclusions and the executive summary of the report sent to the president for declassification and release to the American people. The White House has indicated publicly and to me personally that it supports declassification and release.

If the Senate can declassify this report, we will be able to ensure that an un-American, brutal program of detention and interrogation will never again be considered or permitted.

CVT’s complete response to Senator Feinstein’s speech is available here. We welcome your comments as well.