UNCLASSIFIED
Committee Study of the CentralIntelligenceAgmcy's Detention and
Interrogation Program
Interrogation Program
Foreword by Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Bianne Feinstein
Findings and Concliisioiis
Executive Summary
Approved Deeember 13,,2012
Updatedfor Release April 3, 2014
Findings and Concliisioiis
Executive Summary
Approved Deeember 13,,2012
Updatedfor Release April 3, 2014
UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED
Foreword
On April 3, 2014, the Senate Select Committee onIntelligence voted to send the
Findings and Conclusions and the Executive Summary of its final Study on the
CIA's Detention and Interrogation Program to the President for declassification
and subsequent public release.
This action marked the culmination ofa monumental effort that officially began
with the Committee's decision to initiate the Study in March 2009, but which had
its roots in an investigation into the CIA's destruction of videotapes ofCIA
detainee interrogations that beganin December 2007.
The full Committee Study, which totals more than 6,700 pages, remains classified
but is now an official Senate report. The full report has been provided to the White
House, the CIA, the Department of Justice, the Department of Defense, the
Department of State, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in the
hopes that it will prevent future coercive interrogation practices and inform the
management of other covert action programs.
As the Chairman of the Committee since 2009,1 write to offer some additional
views, context, and history.
I began my service on the Senate Intelligence Committee in January 2001. I
remember testimony that summer from George Tenet, the Director of Central
Intelligence, that warned of a possible major terrorist event against the United
States, but without specifics on the time, location, or method of attack. On
September 11, 2001, the world learned the answers to those questions that had
consumed theCIA and other parts of the U.S. Intelligence Community.^
I recall vividly watching the horror of that day, to include the television footage of
innocent men and women jumping out of the World Trade Center towers to escape
the fire. The images, and the sounds as their bodies hit the pavement far below,
will remain with me for the rest of my life.
It is against that backdrop - the largest attack against the American homeland in
our history - that the events described in this report were undertaken.
' For information on the events at the CIA prior to September 11, 2001, see the Final Report ofthe National
Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon theUnited States (9/11 Commission) and Office of theInspector General
Report on CIA Accountability With Respect to the 9/11 Attacks.
Page 1 of 6
UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED
Nearly 13 years later, the Executive Summary and Findings and Conclusions of
this report are being released. They are highly critical of the CIA's actions, and
rightfully so. Reading them, it is easy to forget the context in which the program
began - not that the context should serve as an excuse, but rather as a warning for
the future.
On April 3, 2014, the Senate Select Committee onIntelligence voted to send the
Findings and Conclusions and the Executive Summary of its final Study on the
CIA's Detention and Interrogation Program to the President for declassification
and subsequent public release.
This action marked the culmination ofa monumental effort that officially began
with the Committee's decision to initiate the Study in March 2009, but which had
its roots in an investigation into the CIA's destruction of videotapes ofCIA
detainee interrogations that beganin December 2007.
The full Committee Study, which totals more than 6,700 pages, remains classified
but is now an official Senate report. The full report has been provided to the White
House, the CIA, the Department of Justice, the Department of Defense, the
Department of State, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in the
hopes that it will prevent future coercive interrogation practices and inform the
management of other covert action programs.
As the Chairman of the Committee since 2009,1 write to offer some additional
views, context, and history.
I began my service on the Senate Intelligence Committee in January 2001. I
remember testimony that summer from George Tenet, the Director of Central
Intelligence, that warned of a possible major terrorist event against the United
States, but without specifics on the time, location, or method of attack. On
September 11, 2001, the world learned the answers to those questions that had
consumed theCIA and other parts of the U.S. Intelligence Community.^
I recall vividly watching the horror of that day, to include the television footage of
innocent men and women jumping out of the World Trade Center towers to escape
the fire. The images, and the sounds as their bodies hit the pavement far below,
will remain with me for the rest of my life.
It is against that backdrop - the largest attack against the American homeland in
our history - that the events described in this report were undertaken.
' For information on the events at the CIA prior to September 11, 2001, see the Final Report ofthe National
Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon theUnited States (9/11 Commission) and Office of theInspector General
Report on CIA Accountability With Respect to the 9/11 Attacks.
Page 1 of 6
UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED
Nearly 13 years later, the Executive Summary and Findings and Conclusions of
this report are being released. They are highly critical of the CIA's actions, and
rightfully so. Reading them, it is easy to forget the context in which the program
began - not that the context should serve as an excuse, but rather as a warning for
the future.
wird fortgesetzt...