Advocates Ask Udall to Leak Documents

Defeated Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., can do some good in his remaining weeks in Congress, transparency advocates say, by using his congressional immunity to unilaterally release the Senate intelligence committee’s 6,300-page report on the CIA's alleged use of torture.

The intelligence committee approved the report in December 2012 and in April submitted a 600-page summary to the Obama administration for declassification.

Udall, an intelligence committee member viewed favorably by anti-torture and pro-transparency activists, in March expressed frustration with the CIA’s role approving report redactions and charged "significant amounts of information on the CIA's detention and interrogation program that has been declassified and released to the American public is misleading and inaccurate."

But the outgoing senator has thus far been hesitant to use his constitutional privilege to expose classified materials to correct the public record.

[READ: Former Spies Ponder CIA's Future After Torture Report]

Ahead of exiled whistleblower Edward Snowden’s mass surveillance revelations in June 2013, Udall – along with Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. – gave vague public warnings about what government agencies were doing, but did not describe particular programs. After Snowden’s leaks, he defended that approach, saying: “I acted in every possible way short of leaking classified information. I’m not going to do that.”

The Freedom of the Press Foundation’s executive director, Trevor Timm, wants Udall to make an about-face on his no-leaking stance by releasing the report on alleged Bush-era abuses.

“Udall has nothing to lose,” Timm wrote Wednesday for the Guardian. “He can’t get kicked off any committee he won’t be a part of in two months. And he can’t be prosecuted for revealing classified information as a member of Congress.”

Timm argued Udall should “bring transparency to one of America’s darkest hours once and for all – before it’s too late.”

[RELATED: CIA Director Apologizes to Senate Leaders for Spying]

Matt Hawthorne, policy director at the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, says the group would like a lightly redacted version of the report to be released through official channels – but he's not convinced that will happen.

“If the president and his administration continue to resist agreeing to appropriate redactions, we of course want the report released and with as much information as possible,” he says, "[and] we would support it being released in any way that allows the American people to see the truth about torture."

Hawthorne says unreasonable redactions would include withholding information about the effectiveness of alleged torture and the CIA’s honesty with Congress. He's also concerned by reports the CIA wants to redact pseudonyms, which could make the report difficult to read.

Members of Congress rarely take full advantage of the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause, which grants them immunity for the content of speeches or debates within Congress, to leak classified information.

[MORE: Congress' Tortured Journey Back to CIA Oversight]

In a famous exception, former Sen. Mike Gravel, D-Alaska, entered the Pentagon Papers into the congressional record in 1971 to scuttle Nixon administration attempts to suppress reporting on the classified Vietnam War study.

Gravel says Udall should leak the report.

“The problem is peer pressure,” he says. “He would have to go against the pressure of his colleagues who think it’s irresponsible to give out secrets.”

The former senator advises Udall, however, to give him a call if he’s considering releasing the report, as he has a few ideas.

If Udall has access to a digital copy, Gravel says, he could simply email it as a press release attachment. If it’s in hard copy at a secure location, he says, Udall could stuff it into a briefcase or two and then deliver it to the nearest reporter.

[READ: Congressmen Demand End to 'Black Budget' Secrecy]

“This would enshrine him in Colorado as an independent thinker and open the door for him to run again,” Gravel says.

Udall’s Republican successor, Cory Gardner, told U.S. News last month he’s open to using his congressional immunity to expose classified misdeeds. Udall’s position on the Senate intelligence committee, however, puts him in a unique position to access such information.

The report on CIA interrogations, of course, isn’t the only item on transparency advocates’ wish lists. Jacob Appelbaum, a technology expert who has reported on Snowden’s leaks, asked Udall on Twitter to release more details about the NSA.

A spokesman for Udall did not respond to a request for comment.