January 21, 2015

Wyden Statement on Covering up Torture Report and Panetta Review

Washington, D.C. – Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., issued the following statement on efforts to cover up the facts about torture by returning the Panetta Review to the CIA and pulling back all copies of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s torture report from the executive branch:

“The President has said that he wants to make sure that torture never happens again, so I'm confident he is going to make sure that the full Senate torture report is read by policymakers and officials across the government.  It would be unprecedented and foolish to return the Executive Branch's classified copies of the report. Doing so would aid defenders of torture who are seeking to cover up the facts and rewrite the historical record.

The CIA's leadership continues to double down on denials about the agency's history on torture, but their claims are contradicted by their own internal review.  They were so concerned about the Intelligence Committee finding the Panetta Review that they even spied on Senate files to see if the committee had obtained it.  Senator Feinstein was smart to keep a copy of the Panetta Review, and I certainly don't think the Senate should allow the Panetta Review to be covered up by letting Director Brennan stick it in the shredder." 

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