By PAMELA HESS, Associated Press Writer
December 20, 2007
WASHINGTON - The CIA opened its files to congressional investigators
Thursday, inviting them to the agency's Virginia headquarters
to begin reviewing documents and records relating to the destruction
of interrogation videotapes.
House Intelligence Committee staff members want to know who
authorized the tapes' destruction; who in the CIA, Justice
Department and White House knew about it and why Congress was
not fully informed. The committee, which had threatened to
subpoena the records if they did not get access this week,
also wants to know exactly what was shown on the tapes, which
document the harsh interrogation of two al-Qaida suspects in
2002. The CIA destroyed the tapes in 2005.
President Bush declined to address the controversy, saying
at a White House news conference he was confident that administration
and congressional investigations "will end up enabling
us all to find out what exactly happened." He repeated
his assertion that his "first recollection" of being
told about the tapes and their destruction was when CIA Director
Michael Hayden briefed him on it earlier this month.
At the Justice Department, investigators were combing through
CIA e-mails and other documents and planning to interview former
agency officials. One official familiar with the investigation
said the review so far indicates that Alberto Gonzales, who
served as White House counsel and then attorney general, advised
against destroying the videotapes as one of four senior Bush
administration attorneys discussing how to handle them. The
official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing
investigation. Gonzales' attorney, George Terwilliger, declined
comment.
Another of the administration attorneys, John Bellinger, then
a lawyer at the National Security Council, has told colleagues
that administration lawyers came to a consensus that the tapes
should not be destroyed, said a senior official familiar with
Bellinger's account of the 2003 White House discussion. Bellinger
could not be reached for comment.
"The clear recommendation of Bellinger and the others
was against destruction of the tapes," the official said,
speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity
of the matter. "The recommendation in 2003 from the White
House was that the tapes should not be destroyed."
Exactly which officials and attorneys discussed the tapes'
destruction and when, and with whom, is still a matter of dispute,
and one that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre
Reyes, D-Texas, hopes to settle.
Reyes wants acting CIA general counsel John Rizzo and Jose
Rodriguez, the former head of the National Clandestine Service,
to testify to the committee on Jan. 16. Rodriguez is the official
who directed that the tapes, which document the interrogation
of two al-Qaida suspects in 2002, be destroyed.
Rizzo will testify, though the CIA has not committed to a
date. Rodriguez has his own lawyer, so his arrangements were
being made separately.
Reyes also wants the CIA to make available CIA attorneys Steve
Hermes, Robert Eatinger, Elizabeth Vogt and John McPherson
to testify before the committee. Former CIA directors Porter
Goss and George Tenet, former deputy director of operations
James L. Pavitt and former general counsel Scott Muller are
also on the list.
Muller, who headed the CIA's legal office from 2002 to 2004,
advised agency officials against destroying the tapes, according
to former government officials familiar with the situation
who are not authorized to speak on the record.
Among the documents the House Intelligence Committee could
see is a May 2004 memo Muller wrote recording details of a
meeting with White House officials that occurred as the Bush
administration was scrambling to deal with the unfolding Abu
Ghraib prison abuse scandal. According to these officials,
the White House raised the issue in that meeting and recommended
the tapes be retained intact. Muller did not seek White House
input in 2003 because he believed the issue had been decided
within the agency, the officials said.
Reyes' panel rejected a Bush administration request that it
defer its investigation until a preliminary inquiry being conducted
the Justice Department and CIA inspector general is completed.
Reyes and the committee's top Republican, Peter Hoekstra of
Michigan, asked last week for immediate delivery of all documents,
cables and records regarding the taping of detainee interrogations,
as well as for testimony from Rizzo and Rodriguez at a planned
Dec. 18 hearing. The officials did not come and the documents
were not provided immediately.
Reyes said the Justice Department's letter requesting a delay
in his investigation had chilled the CIA's willingness to comply
with the committee's requests for information and witnesses.
Justice Department officials denied that, saying their letter
did not specifically forbid the CIA to testify or provide documents,
something the officials said they have no authority to do.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they
were not authorized to talk publicly about the letter.
Attorney General Michael Mukasey, however, has refused to
immediately provide details of the Justice Department's investigation
to the congressional judiciary committees out of fear that
could taint what may become a criminal case.
In a separate tug-of-war over who has jurisdiction to investigate
the videotapes matter, a federal judge has summoned Justice
Department lawyers to his courtroom Friday to determine whether
the destruction of the tapes violated a court order to preserve
evidence about detainees.
___
Associated Press writers Matthew Lee, Deb Riechmann and Lara
Jakes Jordan contributed to this report.
___
On the Net:
House Intelligence Committee: http://intelligence.house.gov/
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