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Interrogation Opinion Leak Has White House On Defense

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By DAVID JOHNSTON and SCOTT SHANE, The New York Times

Published: October 5, 2007

WASHINGTON - The disclosure on Thursday of secret Justice Department legal opinions on interrogation set off a bitter round of debate over the treatment of suspected terrorists in U.S. custody and whether Congress has been adequately informed of administration legal policies.

Democrats on Capitol Hill demanded to see the classified legal memorandums, disclosed by The New York Times, that gave the CIA expansive approval in 2005 for harsh interrogation techniques.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, wrote to acting Attorney General Peter D. Keisler asking for copies of all opinions on interrogation since 2004.

'I find it unfathomable that the committee tasked with oversight of the CIA's detention and interrogation program would be provided more information by The New York Times than by the Department of Justice,' Rockefeller wrote.

The ranking Republican on the panel, Sen. Christopher S. Bond of Missouri, said in a statement Thursday night that the committee was briefed on the administration's 'legal justifications' for interrogation.

Bond said he understands the administration did not want to turn over the opinions themselves because they had confidential legal advice.
Administration officials confirmed the existence of the classified opinions but said they did not condone torture. White House press secretary Dana Perino said she could not discuss CIA methods but added, 'What I can tell is that any procedures that they use are tough, safe, necessary and lawful.'

One 2005 opinion gave the Justice Department's most authoritative legal approval to the harshest agency techniques, including head slapping, exposure to cold and simulated drowning, even when used in combination.

The second opinion declared that under some circumstances, such techniques were not 'cruel, inhuman or degrading,' a category of treatment that Congress banned in December 2005.
Administration officials said Thursday that there was no contradiction between the still-secret rulings and an opinion made public by the Justice Department in December 2004 that declared torture 'abhorrent' and appeared to retreat from the administration's earlier assertion of broad presidential authority to conduct brutal interrogations.

At a briefing, Perino said it is 'quite a testament to this country' that six years after the Sept. 11 attacks 'we are still having a debate' about treating prisoners but that 'we don't torture them.'

President Bush, she added, 'has done everything within the corners of the law to make sure that we prevent another attack on this country.'

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the 2005 opinions 'reinstated a secret regime by, in essence, reinterpreting the law in secret.'

Leahy said his panel had sought information on the opinions on interrogation for two years without success.

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