In tonight’s HBO History Makers interview with Hillary Clinton, the former Secretary of State and First Lady expresses her full support for the release of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on CIA torture and detention practices after 9/11. Clinton advocates for transparency, saying that “the American people deserve to see it.”
The Senate Intelligence Committee’s report, an exhaustive 6,000-plus pages, details the abuses that took place in the CIA’s interrogation and detention program after 9/11, including torture. Reportedly, it includes that the CIA misled Congress about the methods being used, as well as the effectiveness of those methods, that in fact, they were much more brutal than reported and much less successful than the CIA claimed.
The report has been adopted by the Intelligence Committee, and the Executive Summary and CIA rebuttal are in the process of declassification, being undertaken by the CIA itself.
Clinton is not the only significant political figure that has come out in support of releasing the report. Vice President Joe Biden supports release, saying, “I think the only way you exorcise the demons is that you acknowledge exactly what happened straightforward.” Director of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson agrees, noting that the comparable report detailing abuses after 9/11 by the military, “is a very valuable, important report. I personally had a number of takeaways from it…” And recently, 30 of our nation’s most respected retired generals and admirals wrote to President Obama asking him to take the lead in the declassification process and to now allow the CIA to stall or halt the process.
The American people need to see the result of this report, and Clinton should be applauded for joining the ranks of those calling for its release.