Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas), the chairman of the panel, said he intended to introduce legislation that would impose new standards on what the CIA is required to report to Congress.
In a separate matter, Cheney on Thursday lost -- at least for now -- his effort to have the government declassify memos describing the success of the CIA program. Cheney had requested their release in March.
In a letter to the National Archives, where the records are kept, the CIA said it could not declassify the documents because they were subject to an ongoing Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
"For that reason -- and that reason only -- CIA did not accept Mr. Cheney's request," said another CIA spokesman, Paul Gimigliano.
The civil liberties groups that filed the lawsuit criticized the CIA's decision, noting the irony that the agency was citing a suit seeking the documents' release as justification for not doing so.
"It is unusual for Amnesty International to find itself on the same side . . . as Cheney," said Tom Parker, a counter-terrorism expert at the organization. "But we welcome his late conversion to the value of transparency in government."
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greg.miller@latimes.com
