Statement to Employees by Director of the Central Intelligence Agency Mike Hayden on New Interrogation Policy

January 22, 2009

President Obama issued an Executive Order today setting out new instructions for the detention, rendition and interrogation of captured terrorists. The legal and policy landscape under which the Agency has conducted itself in the global war on terror has changed in the past and we have consistently and scrupulously adjusted our efforts to reflect these changes. This Executive Order is no different. We will review the order carefully and issue appropriate guidance to ensure that we continue to act in consonance with the law and with policy direction. When our government changes its law or policy, we will follow that direction without exception, carve-out, or loophole.

Our Agency has many counter-terror tools in its arsenal. The rendition, detention and interrogation program has been an important one. As intelligence professionals, you, the men and women of CIA, will make the best possible use of the space the Republic has given us to act boldly and bravely in its defense. I have every confidence in your enduring ability to do so, honoring, as always, the laws and values of the democracy we faithfully serve.

Mike Hayden