Senate panel wants internal CIA report on interrogation program

WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee asked the CIA for what the panel says it believes is a critical internal report on interrogations that has been withheld.

The committee's request comes in the midst of a yearlong battle with the U.S. spy agency over the panel's own report about the controversial detention and interrogation program, the New York Times reported Tuesday.

The Senate report of more than 6,000 pages was finished in December 2012 but hasn't been declassified.

People who read the study told the Times it is extremely critical of the defunct interrogation program and chronicles how CIA officials repeatedly mislead the White House, Congress and the public are divided on the value of brutal interrogation methods that ultimately produced intelligence of little worth.

Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., disclosed the existence of the CIA report during a committee hearing Tuesday, saying it was several years old and "consistent with the Intelligence's Committee's report," but conflicted with "the official CIA response to the committee's report."

"If this is true," Mr. Udall said during a hearing on the nomination of Caroline D. Krass to be the CIA's chief counsel, "this raises fundamental questions about why a review the CIA conducted internally years ago -- and never provided to the committee -- is so different from the CIA's formal response to the committee study."

It is unclear what the CIA concluded in its internal review, the Times said.

Udall said he would not support the Krass nomination until the CIA provided the committee with more information about the interrogation program.

Krass didn't respond directly to Udall's comments about the CIA's internal review.

Agency spokesman Dean Boyd said the CIA was "aware of the committee's request and will respond appropriately."

While the agency agreed with a number of conclusions contained in the Senate report, it found "significant errors in the study," Boyd said.

"CIA and committee staff have had extensive dialogue on this issue, and the agency is prepared to work with the committee to determine the best way forward on potential declassification," he said.

Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., recently said the panel soon would vote to adopt the report's executive summary and conclusion, which then would go through a formal declassification process before its release to the public.