Outgoing CIA director defends detainee interrogation program [View All]

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Outgoing CIA director defends detainee interrogation program

By Jonathan S. Landay | McClatchy Newspapers


LANGLEY, Va. — Outgoing CIA Director Michael Hayden vigorously defended on Thursday the agency's use of secret prisons and coercive interrogation methods on suspected al Qaida terrorists, saying they helped avert new terrorist attacks and were done "out of duty, not out of enthusiasm."

Hayden argued that the CIA detainee program shouldn't be subjected to a public investigation because the administration had obtained Justice Department legal opinions to support it and had informed members of Congress.

A public inquiry also would damage the careers of dedicated intelligence officers and the agency's espionage operations, he said.

"We are asked to do things routinely that no one else is asked to do, that no one else is allowed to do," Hayden said. "You can't do this to these people."

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