CRI听力:CIA Director Defends against Torture Report

In a rare live televised news conference, CIA Director John Brennan ruled out the idea of holding his colleagues to account.

He explained that the CIA was uNPRepared to conduct a detention and interrogation program in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"In a limited cases agency officers used interrogation technics that had not been authorized where accordant and rightly should be repudiated by all. And we felt short when it came to holding some officers accountable for their mistakes."

Brennan said many aspects of the Senate Intelligence Committee's conclusions are sound and consistent with the CIA's own prior findings.

However, he says the accusation that the enhanced interrogation techniques were of no intelligence value lacks foundation.

He reaffirmed that some information, including details that led to the finding of Osama Bin Laden, did come out from detainees who had been subjected to torture techniques.

"The cost and effectiveness relationship between the application of those EITs and the ultimate provision of the information is unknown and unknowable."

The CIA Director also denied the accusation of lying to U.S. lawmakers and other officials, saying it's frustrating to be labeled as "untrustworthy".

He also pointed out that those enhanced interrogation technics exposed by the Senate report were abandoned in 2007.

"In light of the fact that these technics were abandoned seven years ago however my fervent hope is that we can put aside this debate and move forward to focus on issues that are relevant to our current national security challenges."

Xiaohong, CRI, Washington DC.