Inquiry into why CIA tapes destroyed

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...6-2703,00.html

Correspondents in Washington | December 10, 2007

THE US Justice Department and the CIA's internal watchdog have announced a joint inquiry into the spy agency's destruction of videotaped interrogations of two suspected terrorists, as the latest scandal to rock US intelligence gathered steam.

The review will determine whether a full investigation is warranted.

"I welcome this inquiry and the CIA will co-operate fully," CIA chief Michael Hayden said in a statement yesterday.

"I welcome it as an opportunity to address questions that have arisen over the destruction back in 2005 of videotapes."

The House Intelligence Committee is launching its own inquiry next week. Committee chairman Silvestre Reyes said it would investigate not only why the tapes were destroyed and Congress was not notified, but also the interrogation methods that "if released, had the potential to do such grave damage to the United States of America".

"This administration cannot be trusted to police itself," said Mr Reyes, a Democrat.

The Senate Intelligence Committee also is investigating.

General Hayden told agency employees last week that the recordings were destroyed out of fear the tapes would be leaked and reveal the identities of interrogators. He said the sessions were videotaped to provide an added layer of legal protection for interrogators who were using new, harsh methods authorised by President George W. Bush as a way to break down the defences of recalcitrant prisoners.

The CIA's acting general counsel, John Rizzo, is preserving all remaining records related to the videotapes and their destruction. Kenneth Wainstein, an assistant attorney-general, asked that they be handed over with any relevant internal reviews.

Justice Department officials, lawyers from the CIA general counsel's office and CIA inspector-general John Helgerson will meet early this coming week to begin the preliminary inquiry, Mr Wainstein said.

Mr Helgerson has been highly critical in classified reports of the agency's treatment of detainees. In October, the CIA confirmed that a close Hayden aide was reviewing his work, raising concern in Congress that the independence of the office was under attack. The White House had no immediate comment on the inquiry. Presidential spokeswoman Dana Perino said the White House would support Attorney-General Michael Mukasey if he decided to investigate.

Angry congressional Democrats had demanded the Justice Department investigate. Some accused the CIA of a cover-up.

The man now at the centre of the storm is Jose Rodriguez, who retired as head of the CIA's clandestine directorate of operations in August, but will leave the agency at the end of the year.

Mr Rodriguez decided the tapes should be destroyed, one former and one current intelligence official said.

A career spy, Mr Rodriguez was promoted to the job by then-CIA director Porter Goss.

Mr Goss had learned of the tapes' destruction "a couple of days" after it happened, a government official said. The official said Mr Goss did not order an investigation or inform Congress.

Mr Goss was upset by the tapes' destruction but did not take any action because the decision was within Mr Rodriguez's authority, a former intelligence official said.

The CIA's spy service has broad latitude to take actions to protect operational security.

The tapes were destroyed soon after The Washington Post inlate 2005 revealed the existence of secret overseas prisons, which angered the co-operating governments.

Another intelligence official said Mr Rodriguez was concerned the tapes would be leaked and that the interrogators seen in the tapes would be targeted by al-Qa'ida. "Rodriguez felt he had good reasons to deep-six the tapes. They had people's faces on them. It's not like a name getting out," the official said.

The Justice Department and CIA inspector-general inquiry is expected to focus on whether Mr Rodriguez had the inherent authority to destroy the tapes or had the endorsement of CIA legal advisers or any senior officials.