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Pentagon issues warning in anticipation of CIA torture report
By Jon Harper
Stars and Stripes
Published: December 8, 2014
Foreign governments and U.S. intelligence agencies are predicting that the release of a Senate report examining the use of torture by the CIA will cause "violence and deaths" abroad, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said Sunday.
WASHINGTON — The Joint Staff has warned all combatant commands to be on alert for possible violence following the upcoming release of a Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA interrogation methods during President George W. Bush’s administration.
The report, anticipated to be released this week, is expected to detail and condemn what many consider acts of torture carried out against terrorist suspects in the years after the 9/11 attacks.
The report is an unclassified summary of a longer 6,200 page classified document. Democrats on the committee and their staffs spent six years reviewing CIA documents about the agency’s interrogation programs, which included controversial tactics like waterboarding. Those practices were prohibited after President Barack Obama came into office.
U.S. officials have expressed concern that the revelations could provoke attacks against Americans and U.S. facilities overseas.
Secretary of State John Kerry reportedly warned committee chairwoman Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., of the potential consequences of releasing the report at this time.
Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., told CNN that the report will lead to violence and deaths.
The Pentagon shares those concerns.
“There is certainly the possibility that the release of this report could cause unrest, and therefore the Joint Staff has directed the combatant commands to take the appropriate force protection measures,” Defense Department spokesman Col. Steve Warren told reporters Monday.
He said the security measures taken would vary be region, depending on threat level assessments.
Military facilities and personnel in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility – which covers the Middle East and most of the Muslim world – are considered the most vulnerable.
Warren declined to provide details of the specific steps that military commanders are taking to enhance security at U.S. bases.
Britain and Canada have reportedly closed their embassies in Cairo in part in anticipation of a backlash against the report.
U.S. State Department officials did not immediately respond to requests for information about steps that are being taken to protect American diplomatic facilities and personnel.
Warren would not say whether the military presence at U.S. diplomatic facilities overseas have been beefed up.
Warren was asked if the Pentagon believes the report should not be released due to security concerns.
“We do not have a view…That’s really a policy question,” he said. “Our focus is to ensure the protection of our personnel and facilities around the world.”
Concern about attacks against Westerners by violent Islamic extremists has increased in recent months following the rise of the Islamic State militant group in Iraq and Syria. A uniformed Canadian soldier was killed in Ottawa in October by a man who had recently converted to Islam.
On Monday, a female American teacher was stabbed to death by a veiled woman in the United Arab Emirates capital of Abu Dhabi. Emirates officials said the victim was chosen simply because of her nationality.
harper.jon@stripes.com
Twitter: @JHarperStripes
http://www.stripes.com/news/us/pentagon-issues-warning-in-anticipation-of-cia-torture-report-1.318054
