CIA Director Defends Enhanced Interrogation After 9/11: ‘There Were No Easy Answers’

Thursday, CIA Director John Brennan addressed the Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA detention and interrogation procedures and set the stage for the decisions made at the time saying. 

“On the morning of September 11, 2001, when the North Tower of the World Trade Center was struck by a aircraft commandeered by al Qaeda terrorists, 17 minutes later, the clear blue skies over Manhattan were pierced yet again by another hijacked aircraft. This one tearing into the adjacent South Tower at 9:37, the Pentagon, the proud symbol and heart of the nation’s military, suffered a similar attack. and at 10:03, a fourth plane shattered the serene landscape of Shanksville, PA, as its passengers refused to allow al Qaeda to use one more plane as a missile to strike our homeland. In the short span of 77 minutes, four terrorist attacks would forever change the history of our country. They would rob of us nearly 3,000 lives. they would ultimately cost us trillions of dollars. and they would plunge us into a seemingly never-ending war against a globally dispersed collection of terrorists with a murderous agenda.”

Brennan then defended the CIA’s action in the face of the unknown at the time. 

“As concerns with al Qaeda’s plans endured, a variety of these techniques were employed by CIA officers on several dozen detainees over the course of five years before they ended in december of 2007,” he added. “The previous administration faced agonizing choices about how to pursue al Qaeda and prevent additional terrorist attacks against our country while facing fears of terrorist attack and carrying out responsibility to prevent more catastrophic loss of life. There were no easy answers, and whatever your views are on E.I.T.’s, our nation and in particular this agency, did a lot of things right during this.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN