CIA Director Goss denies use of torture

LANGLEY, Va. – CIA interrogators use “a variety of unique and innovative ways” to collect “vital” information from prisoners but strictly obey laws against torture, CIA Director Porter Goss said.

In his first interview since the clash this month between the Bush administration and the Republican-controlled Senate on restricting interrogations, Goss said the CIA remains officially neutral on the proposal by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to ban “cruel, inhuman or degrading” treatment of detainees by CIA or military officers. But Goss made clear that techniques that would be restricted under McCain’s proposal have yielded valuable intelligence.

“There is a huge amount of misinformation swirling about on the subject of detainees. That would include alleged activities of this agency,” Goss said in an interview Friday in his office at agency headquarters in Northern Virginia.

“This agency does not do torture. Torture does not work,” Goss said. “We are an information collection agency. We use lawful capabilities to collect vital information and we do it in a variety of unique and innovative ways, all of which are legal and none of which are torture.”

Goss declined to describe interrogation methods exclusive to the CIA. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., said the problem with McCain’s proposal is that the restriction on “degrading” treatment might bar psychological techniques, such as calling a prisoner a coward or isolating a detainee in a very small room. Hunter is chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and a close ally of the administration in the interrogation debate.

Goss echoed administration arguments about the need for flexibility in fighting terrorism.

“An enemy that’s working in an amorphous network that doesn’t have to worry about a bunch of regulations, chain of command, rule of law or anything else has got a huge advantage over a stultified, slow-moving, bureaucratic, by-the-book” organization, Goss said. “So we have to, within the law and within all the requirements of our professional ethics in this profession, develop agility. And that means putting a lot of judgment in the hands of individuals overseas.”

Goss declined to discuss reports by the Washington Post and Human Rights Watch alleging that the CIA maintains secret detention centers at military bases in Central European countries. He said media leaks about allies helping the CIA in capturing and interrogating detainees may provoke reprisal terrorist attacks.

Cooperation from allies is essential to intelligence operations, Goss said. “I don’t have any arrest authority overseas. If you want to disrupt a terrorist, you’ve got to have local law enforcement help you.”

Exposure of allied cooperation with the CIA has already prompted several European governments to launch investigations into alleged CIA activities in their territories. Such diplomatic complications are among the reasons Goss is pressing for the CIA to improve its ability to operate on its own overseas.

“Sometimes other sovereign nations have somewhat divergent views or opinions, and so it’s a good idea – even with your best friends – it’s better to have a secret,” Goss said.