North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 93, No. 11, Ed. 1 Friday, February 6, 2009 Page: 2 of 12
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Page 2 Friday, February 6,2009
o
News
Bryan Shettig & Shaina Zucker
News Editors
news@ntdaily.com
CIA pick backs Obama on nixing Bush policy
WASHINGTON (AP) — CIA
Director nominee Leon Panetta
assured senators Thursday that
the Obama administration will
not send prisoners to countries
for torture or other treatment
that violates U.S. values as
he contended had occurred
during the Bush presidency.
Panetta, testifying before
the Senate Intelligence
Committee, later acknowl-
edged that he does not know
specifically what happened in
the secret program allowing
so-called "extraordinary rendi-
tion." CIA Director Michael
Hayden has said that the Bush
administration moved secret
prisoners between countries
for interrogation and incar-
ceration, separate from the
judicial system, fewer than
100 times.
Panetta said that President
Barack Obama forbids what
Panetta called "that kind of
extraordinary rendition —
when we send someone for the
purpose of torture or actions
by another country that violate
our human values."
"What happened I can't tell
you specifically" he said later,
"but clearly steps were taken
that prompted this president
to say those things ought not
to happen again."
Rendition has been used
by U.S. presidents for several
decades; Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo.,
said the Clinton administra-
tion used it 80 times. However,
Panetta said the difference is
whether the prisoner is trans-
ferred to another government
for prosecution in its judicial
system or for secret inter-
rogations that may lead to
torture.
Bush administration offi-
cials have said no prisoners
were transferred without cred-
ible assurances from the host
governments that the pris-
oners would not be tortured or
treated in a way that violates
international law.
Panetta said he considers
appropriate those renditions
that send individuals to other
countries to face prosecu-
tion.
"Having said that, if we
capture a high-value prisoner,
I believe we have the right to
hold that individual tempo-
rarily, to debrief that indi-
vidual and to make sure that
individual is properly incar-
cerated so we can maintain
control over that individual,"
he said.
While the Obama admin-
istration is turning its back
on some Bush administration
practices, Panetta said there is
no intention to hold CIA offi-
cers responsible for the poli-
cies they were told to carry
out. CIA interrogators who
used waterboarding or other
harsh techniques against pris-
oners with the permission of
the White House should not
be prosecuted, he said.
The Bush White House
approved CIA waterboarding,
a form of simulated drowning,
for three prisoners in 2002
and 2003. The CIA banned the
practice internally in 2006.
Obama has prohibited harsh
interrogation techniques going
forward.
But Panetta said if inter-
rogators went beyond the
methods they were told were
legal, they should be inves-
tigated.
"We can protect this
country, we can get the
information we need, we can
provide for the security of the
American people and we can
abide by the law. I'm abso-
lutely convinced that we can
do that," he said.
Panetta said he would come
to the job with a list of ques-
tions he wants the CIA to be
able to answer, including the
location of Osama bin Laden
and when and where al-Qaida
will next try to attack the
U.S. He also said he wants to
increase intelligence gathering
and analyses on potential
problems with Russia, China,
Africa and Latin America,
as well as the effects of the
unfolding economic crisis.
"Our first responsibility is to
prevent surprise," he said.
The former White House
chief of staff under President
Clinton and ex-congressman
from California has exten-
sive experience in government
but little in intelligence gath-
ering or analysis. Lie told the
committee that he has asked
former CIA chiefs— notably
former President George H.W.
Bush — how to compensate for
that shortcoming.
"They all told me to listen
carefully to the professionals
at the agency but also to
stay closely engaged with
Congress," Panetta said. "I am
a creature of Congress."
Panetta acknowledged that
he has little professional intel-
ligence experience. But, he
added: "I know Washington.
I know how it works. I think
I also know why it fails to
work."
For intelligence expertise,
he said, he would retain the
top four officials now at the
CIA, including Deputy Director
Steven Kappes. He promised
not to meddle in day-to-day
intelligence operations.
"I anticipate focusing
primarily on ensuring policy
and procedure is handled
correctly, rather than inter-
vening personally in the
details of operational plan-
ning or the production of indi-
vidual pieces of analysis," he
said. "But let me assure you,
the decisions at the CIA will
be mine."
Lie promised to root out any
"yes men," saying: "I would
encourage dissent. I always
have."
Panetta also told the
committee that he would brief
the entire Llouse and Senate
intelligence committees as
much as possible, rather than
just its top members. Lie said
the Bush administration
abused that practice.
"Too often critical
issues were kept from this
committee," he said.
One of those issues,
according to the senators,
was the information that the
CIA last October recalled its
top spy in Algeria because he
allegedly raped two women.
The committee only learned of
the action from news reports
this week.
Panetta said Congress
should have been informed
last fall, and he said the
CIA officer should not only
have been called back to
Washington but fired imme-
diately.
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President Obama and his nominee for CIA chief, Leon Panetta (right) exchange laughs at a news conference in Washing-
ton, D.C., on Jan. 9.
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North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 93, No. 11, Ed. 1 Friday, February 6, 2009, newspaper, February 6, 2009; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth145825/m1/2/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.