Of Course Congress Knew About Enhanced Interrogations

Colorado Democratic Senator Mark Udall, who was defeated in his reelection bid last month, responded to last week’s report by the Democratic members of the Senate Intelligence Committee with a response typical of his far-left views: he accused the CIA of a massive campaign of lying to Congress.

Despite substantial evidence to the contrary, Democrats can’t resist accusing the CIA of lying to Congress.  Nancy Pelosi, when she was Speaker of the House, made a similar claim at a May 2009 press conference when she claimed she had never been briefed on the enhanced interrogation program and said the CIA misleads Congress all the time.

Unfortunately for Pelosi, CIA officers routinely keep careful notes and records when meeting with members of Congress.  After CIA produced these documents, it was clear that Pelosi was the one who was misleading on this issue.

Many former CIA officials made similar statements over the last week in response to new charges by Senator Udall and other Democrats that the Agency lied to Congress about the enhanced interrogation program.  Brendan Bordelon described in National Review Online yesterday how Jose Rodriguez, the CIA’s point man for counterterrorism between 2002 and 2004, explained not only that Pelosi and other Democrats were briefed on this program starting in 2002, but also that some of them wanted the CIA to use harsher methods.

Since Mark Udall is a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, his smearing of CIA officials has further undermined the committee’s reputation for fair and nonpartisan oversight of the U.S. intelligence community.  He will not be missed.