CIA

Another Lawmaker Points To An Error In CIA Briefings Doc

Zachary Roth | May 19, 2009, 11:43AM

Here's yet more evidence -- as if it were needed -- that that CIA briefing document that Republicans are trying to hang around Nancy Pelosi's neck is hardly a reliable source of information.

Rep. David Obey, who chairs the appropriations committee, just sent the following letter to CIA director Leon Panetta:

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Jay Rockefeller

Rockefeller: CIA Doc Is Wrong -- Agency Never Briefed Me Individually

Zachary Roth | May 12, 2009, 11:48AM

Sen. Jay Rockefeller's office has released a new statement on what he was and wasn't told by the CIA about torture.

Says Rockefeller, referring to the CIA document released last week:

We are not in a position to vouch for the accuracy of the document. We can tell you that in the particular entry stating that Senator Rockefeller was briefed on February 4th of 2003 with an asterisk also noting him as later individually briefed -- that is not correct, or at least is not being reported correctly by people reading the document. The Democratic staff director attended a briefing on Feb. 4, but Senator Rockefeller was not present and was not later briefed individually by anyone in the intelligence community. He was first personally briefed by the intelligence community on Sept 4th, 2003.

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Jay Rockefeller

Docs Show Rockefeller Was Briefed On "How The Water Board Was Used"

Zachary Roth | May 8, 2009, 12:31PM

The hot story of the morning is the release of CIA documents appearing to show that Nancy Pelosi was briefed on "enhanced interrogation techniques" in September 2002. Things have already descended into a he-said she-said debate -- literally -- over exactly what Pelosi was told, and whether the new information contradicts what she'd said in the past.

But let's set that aside for a second, because according to the documents, it was another Democratic lawmaker who received the first briefing whose summary in the newly released document specifically mentions waterboarding -- the technique that has been at the center of the controversy, especially for Pelosi lately.

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George Bush

Senate Releases Declassified Narrative Of OLC Torture Opinions

Zachary Roth | April 22, 2009, 6:27PM

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) of the Senate Intelligence committee has just released a declassified narrative (pdf) of the OLC's development of its opinions on torture.

The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder has already picked out a key excerpt, that sheds some light on just who in the Bush administration helped devise and approve the torture policies:

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