CIA chief testifies behind closed doors

WASHINGTON, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- The director of the CIA testified before a U.S. Senate panel Tuesday about destroyed interrogation videotapes, but a key Democrat said more needs to be learned.

After his closed-door testimony, Central Intelligence Agency Director Michael Hayden said he was glad to explain why the videotapes were destroyed, and pledged to "let the facts take us where they will," CNN reported.

Hayden was expected to testify publicly before the Senate Intelligence Committee Wednesday.

The CIA chief disclosed the existence and destruction of the tapes in a memo to agency employees last week. The interrogations of terror suspects took place in 2002 after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

After Tuesday's hearing, committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said other senior agency officials will be called to testify about the destruction of the al-Qaida interrogation tapes. Jose Rodriguez, former chief of the CIA's Directorate of Operations, earlier said he ordered the tapes destroyed on his own authority, and also probably will be called before the panel, CBS News reported Rockefeller as saying.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Tuesday blasted the decision to destroy the tapes.

In a Senate floor speech, Reid said the decision damaged the country's "moral authority," and questioned whether there was a broader coverup, The New York Times said.