WASHINGTON — CIA Director Michael Hayden told the Senate intelligence committee in a closed hearing Tuesday that he was unable to answer key questions about the destruction of interrogation videotapes because the decisions were made before he worked at the CIA.
Hayden told reporters after the closed-door hearing that he had “a chance to lay out the narrative, the history of why the tapes were destroyed.”
But because the tapes were made in 2002 under then-CIA Director George Tenet, and were destroyed in 2005 under another director, Porter Goss, Hayden said he is unable to answer all the committee’s questions.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., the intelligence panel’s chairman, told reporters that the hearing was “useful and not yet complete” because of Hayden’s inability to supply crucial information, including who authorized the destruction of videotapes and why lawmakers were not told about it sooner, or at all.
Hayden’s appearance in front of the intelligence panel followed his disclosure last week that the CIA had destroyed recordings of the interrogations of suspected al-Qaida operative Abu Zubaydah, a major al-Qaida figure, and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, whom the U.S. government says coordinated the 2000 attack on the USS Cole.
Hayden said the destruction was necessary to protect the identities of CIA personnel who appear on the tapes, but many lawmakers and defense attorneys have alleged it was an attempt to cover up illegal torture.
Hayden’s appearance came as a former CIA officer, John Kiriakou, said that the use of a simulated drowning technique known as waterboarding on Zubaydah elicited information that probably disrupted “dozens” of planned al-Qaida attacks and was approved at the top levels of the U.S. government.
Waterboarding is a harsh interrogation technique that involves strapping down a prisoner, covering his mouth with plastic or cloth and pouring water over his face. The prisoner quickly begins to inhale water, causing the sensation of drowning.
Waterboarding Zubaydah got him to talk in less than 35 seconds, the former agent said.
Kiriakou’s public remarks prompted Hayden to send a reminder to CIA employees Tuesday about the importance of not disclosing classified information, intelligence officials said.
Intelligence officials have said the destruction was ordered in November 2005 by Jose Rodriguez Jr., then the CIA’s director of clandestine operations, and that CIA attorneys approved the decision. The Justice Department and the CIA inspector general have launched a joint inquiry into whether CIA officials obstructed justice or tampered with evidence by destroying the videotapes.
Administration officials have said that Justice Department and White House lawyers, including longtime Bush aide Harriet Miers, had recommended against destroying the tapes.
President Bush said Tuesday that he did not know about the tapes or their destruction until last week.
The House and Senate intelligence committees have announced their own investigations of the tape destruction. Hayden is scheduled to participate in another closed-door hearing before the House panel today.
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