CIA chief: 'unknowable' if 'enhanced' interrogations yielded useful intelligence
CIA Director John Brennan said on Thursday that some agency officers used "abhorrent" interrogation techniques and said it was "unknowable" whether so-called enhanced interrogation techniques managed to get useful intelligence out of terrorism suspects.
"I have already stated that our reviews indicate that the detention and interrogation program produced useful intelligence that helped the United States thwart attack plans, capture terrorists and save lives," Brennan told a news conference at the agency's Virginia headquarters.
"But let me be clear. We have not concluded that it was the use of EITs (enhanced interrogation techniques) within that program that allowed us to obtain useful information from detainees subjected to them. The cause-and-effect relationship between the use of EITs and useful information subsequently provided by the detainee is, in my view, unknowable," he added.
