Sen. Deb Fischer
Sen. Deb Fischer says the release of a report questioning whether the CIA went too far in its interrogation of terrorists is ill-timed and potentially dangerous.
Fischer says the report raises a lot of questions.
“But the big question: why bring it out at all? Why was it even undertaken?” Fischer states during an interview with Kevin Thomas, host of Drive Time Lincoln on Nebraska Radio Network affiliate KLIN.
Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee released the 525-page report recently. It provides details on brutal interrogation techniques used by CIA operatives, techniques that many insist border on or are in fact torture. The report claims that in many cases field interrogators overstepped their authority. It faults the CIA’s oversight of its interrogation programs.
The report, according to Fischer, was written by staff members of Democrats on the Intelligence Committee. No Republicans contributed to the report.
Fischer, a Republican member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, doubts her Democratic colleagues who claim the CIA misled Congress on the tactics it used on suspected terrorists.
“And for them to say that they were misled, well, I don’t believe that’s the case,” Fischer says.
Fischer says it is important to place the tactics used in perspective. She points out the nation was desperate to learn what it could in wake of the 9/11 attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. The CIA wanted to know who was responsible and to prevent another attack. The program devised after that tragic day in 2001 ended in 2007.
Fischer says the stakes are high, here.
“Our country has been safe since 9/11. There’s a reason for that.”
Fischer expresses confidence the CIA realizes there is a line in interrogation it shouldn’t cross.
AUDIO: Brent Martin reports [:45]