Reporting from Washington — Congressional leaders were briefed repeatedly on the CIA's use of severe interrogation methods on Al Qaeda suspects, according to new information released by the Obama administration Thursday that appears to contradict the assertions of House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
The records describe dozens of congressional briefings about CIA decisions that since have emerged as major sources of controversy -- including the agency's use of waterboarding and its destruction of videotapes of interrogation sessions.
FOR THE RECORD
Interrogation techniques: An article in Friday's Section A about how congressional leaders were briefed on the CIA's use of severe interrogation methods on Al Qaeda suspects referred to Nancy Pelosi as House majority leader. She is House speaker.
A chart compiled by the CIA indicates that Pelosi (D-San Francisco) was briefed on Sept. 4, 2002, on the agency's interrogation of alleged Al Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah, and that the session covered "the particular [enhanced interrogation techniques] that had been employed." The chart does not list the specific methods covered during the briefing. But during the preceding month, the CIA had used the simulated drowning technique known as waterboarding on Abu Zubaydah at least 83 times, according to a Justice Department memo released last month.
Pelosi has acknowledged being briefed on the CIA's interrogation program, but said she was told only about methods the agency was considering, not about techniques it had actually employed.
As recently as a week ago, Pelosi said, "We were not -- I repeat were not -- told that waterboarding or any of these other enhanced interrogation methods were used."
Brendan Daly, a spokesman for Pelosi, disputed the CIA's account. "As this document shows, the speaker was briefed only once, in September 2002," he said Thursday. "The briefers described these techniques, said they were legal, but said that waterboarding had not been used."
The CIA declined to comment on why the chart does not make it clear whether waterboarding was covered in the Pelosi briefing. But a federal official familiar with the list indicated that the agency's records may not have been that specific. "The descriptions don't go beyond what the records themselves say," said the official, who requested anonymity when discussing intelligence matters.
Republican congressional officials familiar with the document and other still-classified records on congressional briefings said it would have been negligent for CIA briefers to fail to mention the use of waterboarding after Abu Zubaydah had been subjected to the method so extensively.
