An unclassified executive summary of the Senate report on the CIA torture program continues to evade the public eye as the Obama administration and senators clash over redactions to the report.
The summary of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s over 6,000-page damning report into the techniques used in the wake of the September 11 attacks had been expected to be declassified shortly.
But Senator Dianne Feinstein, chair of the committee, issued a statement on Friday that that the committee had noted “significant redactions” when it received the report from the administration. She said that the executive summary would be held so that the Committee had “additional time to understand the basis for these redactions and determine their justification.”
A spokesman for Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), also an Intelligence Committee member, told The Hill that “redactions meant to spare political embarrassment are unacceptable.”
Asked on Monday for comment on the criticisms that the redactions made the report unreadable, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said that Obama has been “very forward-leaning in terms of trying to be as transparent as possible” with regards to the CIA torture , noting that “more than 85 percent of the report was un-redacted.” Earnest added that “it is important that a declassification process be carried out that protects sources and methods and other information that is critical to our national security. “
Committee member Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), issued a statement Sunday in which he slammed the “blackouts.”
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