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WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State John Kerry is reportedly making an eleventh-hour effort to halt the release of the Senate Intelligence Committee's report on the CIA's enhanced interrogation program, shortly after official sources said the document's release would come early next week.
Bloomberg View's Josh Rogin reported that Kerry made a phone call to Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) Friday morning, asking her to 'consider' the timing of her report's release, and implying that its imminent public revelation could endanger overseas personnel and international partnerships at a time when U.S. foreign policy is fragile.
According to Rogin's report, Kerry told Feinstein he still supports the release of the document, just not at this time.
Feinstein's committee declined to comment on the Bloomberg report, which did not make clear whether Kerry had succeeded in convincing the senator to change her plans.
The administration on Thursday confirmed that a summary of the report would be released early next week. The intelligence panel's report details the findings of a 5-year investigation into the CIA's use of harsh interrogation techniques during the George W. Bush administration.
The report of Kerry's appeal to Feinstein came minutes after a State Department briefing in which spokeswoman Marie Harf said her department shared the Obama administration's support for the document's declassification. Harf added that U.S. operations and missions overseas had addressed security concerns and were prepared for the document's imminent release.
'We have directed all of our posts overseas to review their security posture if and when there is a release of this report, to ensure that our personnel and our facilities are prepared for the range of reactions that might occur,' Harf said. 'That's been an ongoing process, we did it back in the summer, we have been doing it now as well.'
NBC News reported that the State Department has denied the Bloomberg report.
Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), an outgoing member of the intelligence panel, said he still supports the document's release despite Kerry's reported concerns.
'Senator Udall remains committed to getting the truth out about the CIA's misguided, brutal and ineffective detention and interrogation program. His belief has not wavered,' said Mike Saccone, a spokesman for Udall. 'The Senate Intelligence Committee and the administration have arrived at a mutually agreed upon set of redactions that protect national security while also ensuring that the truth comes out about this dark chapter in American history.'
'Our nation has proven time and again that we can and should responsibly acknowledge our mistakes -- even when the United States is engaged in military activities abroad, as we were in Iraq when the U.S. Army publicly released its investigation into Abu Ghraib -- and that doing so makes us stronger and more secure,' Saccone continued.
Udall, considered one of the Senate Intelligence Committee's staunchest advocates of government transparency, has said he is considering all options to release the report before leaving the Senate this month. Open government groups have pressed the Colorado Democrat, who lost his bid for a second Senate term, to release the report independently using the Senate's speech and debate clause, which shields lawmakers from prosecution for revealing classified information.
Kerry's objections, if confirmed, could mean that a 'rogue release' like that becomes Feinstein's only option for getting the summary out. The intelligence chair is already in a heated race to get the document into the public before the Senate leaves for the holiday recess at the end of next week. After that, Feinstein's report will fall under the control of the new Republican majority. Many Republican senators vehemently oppose her years-long investigation.
The summary's release has been hamstrung for months thanks to a protracted dispute about information the White House and CIA wanted to keep secret. After months of negotiations, the committee and executive branch came to an agreement just this week. The intention was for the document -- along with the CIA's official response and an adjoining report from the panel's Republicans -- to be made public early next week.
Posted by Unknown on Friday, December 5, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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