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Rawstory
Published: May 14, 2009
The former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Bob Graham, says that the Central Intelligence Agency told him that they had briefed him on the Bush administration’s torture techniques on two dates he was never briefed.What’s more, the now-retired Florida senator told a New York radio host Thursday that the CIA admitted that they’d gotten the dates wrong. The CIA recently released a report detailing the dates that key members of Congress had been briefed about the Bush administration’s “enhanced interrogation program,” but acknowledged in a letter accompanying the report that they couldn’t vouch for its complete accuracy.
Graham’s pronouncement is startling in light of claims by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi contesting the accuracy of the CIA report, and may call into question the veracity of the report as a whole.
“When I asked the CIA what dates was I briefed, they gave me four dates, two in April, two in September of ‘02,” Graham said. “On three of the four occasions, when I consulted my schedule and my notes, it was clear that no briefing took place on that date, and the CIA eventually concurred in that. So their record keeping is a little bit suspect.
“I have no recollection during the briefing that I did receive on September 27 of ‘02 that the issue of waterboarding Zubaydah or other extreme interrogation techniques was discussed,” Graham added, referring to one of the Bush administration’s al Qaeda detainees. “I think I have a pretty good memory and if something as dramatic as that had been discussed at any level of specificity I would not only have remembered it but would have been motivated to do something about it.
Graham’s remarks were first reported by Marcy Wheeler at FireDogLake.
Asked about what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was informed about during her briefing on the subject, Graham said he didn’t know. Pelosi, who was briefed on the program in 2002, says she was never told the administration was waterboarding suspects.
“I don’t know precisely what she was told because according to the CIA’s report they briefed the House and the Senate leadership in separate events approximately three weeks apart,” Graham replied.
“I’m a little surprised that [Condoleezza Rice aide] Phil[ip Zelikow], who I know and have a high regard for, would accept at face value what the people were saying about this subject when at the very same time they were telling us that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq for which there was virtually no credible evidence,” Graham added.The Florida Democrat also expounded on the process by which congressmembers were briefed.
“The basic law which comes out of the Church Committee hearings that were the topic of some discussion earlier this morning on NPR states that the executive should brief the full House and Senate intelligence committees on any proposed or ongoing activities,” Graham said.
“The one exception to that is what is referred to as covert action, where there is a conscious desire to keep the signature of the United States, its fingerprints, off an operation. In that case the president can direct that only the eight leaders, the four congressional leaders and the four leaders of the intelligence committees will be briefed. This is the so-called Gang of 8. In those briefings, you’re not allowed to bring any staff.
Generally you’re called to the meeting with limited notice and no opportunity to prepare since you’re not informed as to what the subject of the briefing is going to be. And then after the briefing you can’t discuss it with anyone except those that were in the room.”
Graham said he’d never spoken with Speaker Pelosi about the torture methods.
“I was never in a briefing with House members,” he remarked.Audio of Graham’s appearance on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer show follows.
