- Info
CIA Response to March 2 NY Times Editorial
March 11, 2008
The
following letter to the editor, published in the March 9 edition of The New
York Times, responds to a March 2 editorial:
To the Editor:
"Horrifying and Unnecessary" (editorial, March 2)
cites interrogation measures that are specifically banned by the Army Field
Manual, including forcing prisoners to perform sexual acts, applying electric
shocks and conducting mock executions.
The implication is that those measures would be used by the Central Intelligence Agency or other
intelligence services if the intelligence authorization bill is vetoed by the
president. They would not. The C.I.A.
neither conducts nor condones torture.
As the C.I.A.
director, Gen. Michael V. Hayden, has
said, the Army Field Manual meets the needs of the American military services
and is sufficient for their purposes.
But it does not exhaust the universe of lawful interrogation
measures available to the Republic to defend itself against hardened terrorists
-- techniques not useful or suited to the Army's circumstances but fully
consistent with the Geneva Conventions and with current United States law.
These are the interrogation measures in the C.I.A.'s current interrogation program -- not
the ones cited in your editorial. They have been fully briefed to the
intelligence oversight committees, and their lawfulness has been confirmed by
the Justice Department.
Mark Mansfield
Director of Public Affairs
Central Intelligence Agency McLean, Va.
March 3, 2008
Posted: Mar 11, 2008 01:02 PM
Last Updated: Mar 11, 2008 01:02 PM
Last Reviewed: Mar 11, 2008 01:02 PM