Email: CIA Destroyed Interrogation Tapes

Goss resigned in 2006.

Recently released internal CIA email messages reveal that in 2005, Porter Goss, then head of the CIA, authorized destruction of videos that depicted harsh interrogation techniques being used against a terrorist suspect. These findings add more controversy to the Bush administration’s policies of dealing with people suspected of terrorism.

The videotapes depicted the use of waterboarding, a widely debated method of interrogating suspects that has come under fire in recent years for being inhumane. The emails, released by the Department of Justice after the American Civil Liberties Union requested their disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, state that Goss strongly supported destroying the tapes, while other CIA officials worried about their possible resurfacing and potential damage they could do to the CIA. The names of the authors of the emails are still censored.

According to the documents, Harriet Miers, President George W. Bush’s White House counsel, did not know of the tape destruction until two days after the event took place, and was angered at being kept in the dark. CIA spokesmen stated today that the CIA remains dedicated to cooperating with an investigation being conducted by the FBI concerning the Bush administration’s alleged attempts to cover up use of illegal interrogation methods.

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