House Panel Demands Secret DOJ Torture MemosHouse Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) and subcommittee chair Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) today demanded the Justice Department release secret legal opinions from 2005 and 2006 that The New York Times described today as “an expansive endorsement of the harshest interrogation techniques ever used by the Central Intelligence Agency.”
The opinions, authored by acting Office of Legal Counsel head Stephen Bradbury, had been previously unknown until the Times wrote about them this morning — even to the committee. And they were penned even as the Bush administration was publicly renouncing torture.
“Both the alleged content of these opinions and the fact that they have been kept secret from Congress are extremely troubling, especially in light of the Department’s 2004 withdrawal of an earlier opinion similarly approving such methods,” Conyers and Nadler wrote. They also demand that Bradbury — who has never been confirmed by the Senate despite serving as OLC chief for years — testify about his justifications for such techniques as waterboarding. You can read their letter to acting Attorney General Peter Kiesler here.