John Brennan, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, said Thursday in a rare press conference it is “unknowable” if torturing terrorist suspects produced valuable intelligence after the 9/11 attacks. However, Brennan said torture did produce “useful” information in the hunt for Osama bin Laden. The Senate’s report found torture didn’t work and certainly didn’t help kill bin Laden. Brennan said the CIA after 9/11 was “not prepared” to interrogate suspects, but it used Justice Department-approved methods he called “enhanced interrogation techniques.” Brennan said while the methods were legal then and subsequently banned, he would “defer to policymakers” if the CIA is asked to torture again. Not once did Brennan say “torture” and he refused to answer whether EITs were torture. Brennan said some interrogations went out of bounds and they were abhorrent.
