Blair defends decision not to prosecute

WASHINGTON, April 17 (UPI) -- The top U.S. intelligence officer defended use of harsh interrogation methods on terror suspects, saying CIA officers relied on Justice Department opinions.

National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair said he was trying to "put these issues in perspective" after Attorney General Eric Holder released four Office of Legal Council opinions issued during the Bush administration that concluded certain harsh interrogation techniques were legal.

In releasing the documents, Holder said he wouldn't pursue legal action against the CIA officers, saying they were doing what they were told was legal. Various rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, called for an investigation into the matter.

"We cannot undo the events of the past," Blair said in a statement released Thursday, "we must understand them and use this understanding as we move into the future."

The opinions were issued after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, he said.

"It was during these months that the CIA was struggling to obtain critical information from captured al-Qaida leaders, and requested permission to use harsher interrogation methods," Blair said. "The OLC memos make clear that senior legal officials judged the harsher methods to be legal."

As President Barack Obama, CIA Director Leon Panetta "and I have stated, we will not use those techniques in the future," Blair said. "But we will absolutely defend those who relied on these memos and those guidelines."

During a press briefing en route to the Summit of the Americas, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said, "(Hardworking) people at the CIA ... did what they were told based on the authorization that they'd been given. The president believes it would be unfair to punish (them)."

Gibbs said Obama's decision that guidelines in the Army Field Manual were to be used essentially bans such activities.