CIA Avoided Congressional Oversight, White House Review: Torture Report

WASHINGTON, December 9 (Sputnik) – The CIA avoided congressional oversight of the agency's interrogation program after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and did not fully provide the White House with details on the effectiveness of the program, according to the report on CIA's use of torture released by the US Senate Committee on Tuesday.

"The CIA did not brief the leadership of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques until September 2002, after the techniques had been approved and used," the report read.

The report further explains that the CIA restricted information about the program from Congress and declined to answer questions from members of the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence about its interrogation activities.

"The CIA restricted access to information about the program from members of the Committee beyond the chairman and vice chairman until September 6, 2006, the day the president publicly acknowledged the program, by which time 117 of the 119 known detainees had already entered CIA custody," the report said.

According to the report, when the White House asked the CIA to review the interrogation program and provide further details on its effectiveness, the agency said that such a review was "difficult, if not impossible to conduct such a review." However, the CIA assured the White House that the program worked and that "the techniques are effective."

The US Senate Intelligence Committee released on Tuesday a 500-page summary of the detailed investigation into the CIA interrogation techniques that were used on alleged al-Qaeda agents following the 9/11 attacks on Washington and New York.

Extra security measures have been taken at US facilities around the world ahead of the release of the torture report, amid fears that the evidence of torture would incite revenge attacks against the United States.

Following the release of the report US President Barack Obama announced that for the remainder of his presidency he will no longer authorize the use of torture methods outlined in the report.