Wyden blasts CIA censorship

WASHINGTON Sen. Ron Wyden says the CIA is trying to blunt the impact of an upcoming Senate report examining the harsh treatment of Al Qaeda detainees by insisting on censoring the pseudonyms used for agency officers mentioned in the document.

The intelligence leadership are doing everything they can to bury the facts, said the Oregon Democrat, a Senate Intelligence Committee member who has been a frequent critic of the spy agency.

The Senate, the CIA and the White House are negotiating over what should be blacked out for national security reasons in the 600-page summary of the report that is set for public release sometime after the November elections.

President Barack Obama and other senior officials have said the CIAs use of waterboarding, stress positions, sleep deprivation and other harsh techniques on some detainees constituted torture. Many current and former CIA officers dispute that.

The Senate report asserts that the harsh treatment didnt work and that CIA officials misled Congress and other government agencies about it. Also to be released is a CIA response, and a separate one by Senate Republicans, which challenge the reports conclusions.

CIA officials say they fear the publication of officer pseudonyms often just a first name such as Roger would lead to the unmasking of undercover officers. Readers could track the same person in different jobs and places, making it easier to discover their identity.

Without the pseudonyms, Wyden says, the report would be much harder to understand because readers wouldnt be able to distinguish different CIA officers. Readers wouldnt know, for example, whether same CIA official had been accused of lying multiple times.

Wyden pointed out that the 9/11 Commission Report and a 2004 report into abuses at Iraqs Abu Ghraib prison used pseudonyms for CIA officers.

I think it is appropriate to redact specific identifying information so the identities of undercover officers are not publicly exposed, Wyden told The Associated Press.

Wyden said the Senate report documents falsehoods, misdeeds and mistakes by the CIA.

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Wyden blasts CIA censorship