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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 7, 2007
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Contact: Zach Goldberg
202-225-5801 (office) |
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HOLT PLANS TO HOLD SPECIAL INTELLIGENCE OVERSIGHT PANEL
HEARING NEXT WEEK TO EXAMINE DESTROYED INTERROGATION TAPES
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(Washington, D.C.) – Rep. Rush Holt (NJ-12), Chairman of the Select Intelligence Oversight Panel, today announced he will hold an oversight hearing into reports that the CIA destroyed interrogation videotapes.
“In his letter to CIA employees, General Hayden stated that ‘the Agency was determined that it proceed in accord with established legal and policy guidelines. So, on its own, it began to videotape interrogations.’ The CIA wanted the video recording to determine if their interrogation program was effective and proper, but apparently did not want anyone else to determine if they were effective and proper – not the courts, not Congress.
The unilateral nature of the Agency’s actions—apparently taken without regard to the 9/11 Commission inquiry or subsequent court proceedings involving detainee policy—only underscores why Congress must reassert its full Constitutional powers in regulating how detainees are treated while in U.S. custody. Next week, I plan to hold an oversight hearing in the Select Intelligence Oversight Panel with General Hayden to examine this matter in detail.”
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