CRS Insights
The SSCI Study of the CIA's Detention and Interrogation Program: Issues to Consider
Anne Daugherty Miles, Analyst in Intelligence and National Security Policy (amiles@crs.loc.gov
, 7-7739)
December 16, 2014 (IN10197)
The Study
A 500-page Executive Summary of the
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) Study of the
Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA's) Detention and Interrogation Program
(SSCI Study) was released
to the public on December 9, 2014 by the Chairman of the SSCI, Senator Dianne Feinstein. The SSCI
Study describes the history of the CIA's Detention and Interrogation Program from late 2001 to January
2009, including a review of each of the 119 individuals known to have been held in CIA custody. (The
full SSCI Study totals more than 6,700 pages and remains classified.)
The SSCI Study began in March 2009 as a bipartisan effort rooted in an earlier SSCI investigation
(2007-2009) into the destruction of CIA interrogation videotapes. The findings of that initial
investigation prompted Chairman Feinstein and then-Vice Chairman Christopher (Kit) Bond to begin a
new investigation soon after they took leadership of the SSCI in January 2009. The minority party
withdrew its support of the study following the Attorney General's September 2009 announcement of a
possible criminal investigation into the interrogation of certain detainees.
In response to the publication of the study, six Members of the SSCI, under the leadership of its Vice
Chairman Saxby Chambliss, published
Minority Views of Vice Chairman Chambliss joined by Senators
Burr, Risch, Coats, Rubio, and Coburn
.
Several independent views of other SSCI Members were
published separately as a set of
Additional Views
. The CIA, under the leadership of its Director, John
Brennan, published a formal set of
CIA Comments to the SSCI Study
.
The current debate surrounding the study's contents raises a number of important issues.
The Issues
Enhanced Interrogation Techniques (EITs) and Torture
One key issue surrounds the definition of "torture." Debate centers on a set of "enhanced interrogation
techniques" (EITs) approved for use in CIA detention centers on "high value detainees" (HVDs).
Because of how these techniques were sometimes administered, the SSCI Study concluded that certain
HVDs were tortured. The Minority Views and CIA Comments do not appear to disagree. According to
study findings, EITs included any or all of the following in the program's seven years, depending on the
year in question [e.g., water boarding was discontinued in March 2003 according to the CIA Comments
(p.6)].
attention grasp (of the shoulders)
walling (thrust against flexible wall)
sensory deprivation (e.g., everything white or total darkness)
loud noise (to include music)
nakedness
cold temperatures
shackled hands and feet
wall standing
sleep deprivation
liquid diet (to include "rectal rehydration")
facial hold
facial slap, abdominal slap
cramped confinement
