CIA Chief Says Congress Not Fully Informed About Tapes
CIA Director Michael Hayden told journalists yesterday that his agency had not kept Congress fully informed about videotaped interrogations of terrorism suspects, both at the time the tapes were made and when they were destroyed three years later.
Hayden’s comments to reporters “struck a different tone” than a message sent to agency employees that said Congress had been told about the tapes, the New York Times reports.
“We could have done an awful lot better in keeping the [House Intelligence] Committee alerted and informed as to that activity,” Hayden said, according to a Washington Post account.
Hayden spoke after a four-hour closed-door session with committee, said to be more contentious than Hayden’s appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday. The two committees are now likely to focus on officials who made the decision to destroy the tapes and legal advice from the Justice Department and White House that reportedly advised against destruction, the Times says.
