On Tuesday, December 9th, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence led by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) released the official findings and executive summary of their several year long investigation into Enhanced Interrogation Techniques prominently used by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

The highly critical report broke down years of alleged CIA abuse of prisoners suspected of terrorism, mismanagement of staff and resources and the notion that the agency misled the Bush Administration, congressional lawmakers and the American public.

In the report, the committee criticized the usage of Enhanced Interrogation Techniques on detainees because it believed the attempts to garner information were widely unsuccessful.The report stated, “The Committee finds, based on a review of CIA interrogation records, that the use of the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques was not an effective means of obtaining accurate information or gaining detainee cooperation.”

Also, the study found that CIA agents tasked with conducting interrogations were unskilled and not qualified to do such a task. The committee noted this concern writing, “The CIA placed individuals with no applicable experience or training in senior detention and interrogation roles and provided inadequate linguistic and analytical support to conduct effective questioning of CIA detainees, resulting in diminished intelligence. The lack of CIA personnel available to question detainees, which the inspector general referred to as ‘an ongoing problem, persisted throughout the program.’”

The committee also alleged that the CIA purposefully misled the White House, lawmakers and American public. The concerned senators stated, “The CIA provided extensive amounts of inaccurate and incomplete information related to the operation and effectiveness of the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program to the White

House, the National Security Council principals and their staffs. This prevented an accurate and complete understanding of the program by Executive Branch officials, thereby impeding oversight and decision-making.”

In the days following the release of the report, many elected officials spoke in both support and disagreement of the study. The arguments have turned partisan in the wake of the release. In a joint statement, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga) said, “As we have both stated before, we are opposed to this study and believe it will present serious consequences for U.S. national security.” He continued on to say, “Regardless of what one’s opinions may be on these issues, the study by Senate Democrats is an ideologically motivated and distorted recounting of historical events. The fact that the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation program developed significant intelligence that helped us identify and capture important al-Qa’ida terrorists, disrupt their ongoing plotting, and take down Usama Bin Ladin is incontrovertible. Claims included in this report that assert the contrary are simply wrong.”

Others have also criticized Senator Feinstein for releasing this highly controversial report in fear that it will spark global outrage, specifically in the Middle East and harm the United State’s service members overseas. Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla) said the release of the report “could endanger the lives of Americans overseas.”

In response, Senator Feinstein has backed the release of the report stating, “History will judge us by our commitment to a just society governed by law and the willingness to face an ugly truth and say ‘never again’.” She continued on to say, “There may never be the right time to release this report… But this report is too important to shelve indefinitely.”