Director Brennan: CIA Won't Waterboard Again — Even if Ordered by Future President

CIA Director John Brennan told NBC News in an exclusive interview that his agency will not engage in harsh "enhanced interrogation" practices, including waterboarding, which critics call torture — even if ordered to by a future president.

"I will not agree to carry out some of these tactics and techniques I've heard bandied about because this institution needs to endure," Brennan said.

A Debate on Torture: Legal Architect of CIA Secret Prisons, Rendition vs. Human Rights Attorney

As the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence feuds with the CIA over the declassification of its 6,000-page report on the agency’s secret detention and interrogation programs, we host a debate between former CIA acting general counsel John Rizzo and human rights attorney Scott Horton. This comes as the United Nations Human Rights Committee has criticized the Obama administration for closing its investigations into the CIA’s actions after Sept. 11. A U.N. report issued Thursday stated, "The Committee notes with concern that all reported investigations into enforced disappearances, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment that had been committed in the context of the CIA secret rendition, interrogation and detention programmes were closed in 2012 leading only to a meager number of criminal charges brought against low-level operatives." Rizzo served as acting general counsel during much of the George W. Bush administration and was a key legal architect of the U.S. interrogation and detention program after the Sept. 11 attacks. He recently published a book titled "Company Man: Thirty Years of Controversy and Crisis in the CIA." Attorney Scott Horton is contributing editor at Harper’s magazine and author of the forthcoming book, "Lords of Secrecy: The National Security Elite and America’s Stealth Foreign Policy."

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John Brennan, Obama Nominee For CIA Director, Had Detailed Knowledge Of Torture

WASHINGTON, Jan 30 (Reuters) - John Brennan, President Barack Obama's nominee to head the CIA, had detailed, contemporaneous knowledge of the use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" on captured terrorism suspects during an earlier stint as a top spy agency official, according to multiple sources familiar with official records.

Those records, the sources said, show that Brennan was a regular recipient of CIA message traffic about controversial aspects of the agency's counter-terrorism program after September 2001, including the use of "waterboarding."

John McCain 'Very Disappointed' By GOP Candidates' Endorsement Of Waterboarding

The Republican presidential candidates, save former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman and Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), announced during Saturday night's GOP debate that they would reinstitute waterboarding if elected president, arguing that it is an "enhanced interrogation technique" and therefore doesn't violate the Geneva Convention's ban against acts of torture.

On Sunday evening, President Barack Obama chastised the candidates for that stance, noting the damage waterboarding has done for America's reputation and its standing in the world.

"It's contrary to America's traditions," he said. "It's contrary to our ideals. That's not who we are. That's not how we operate. We don't need it in order to prosecute the war on terrorism. And we did the right thing by ending that practice."

Terrorism, waterboarding and CIA censorship: Ex-FBI agent Ali Soufan talks to The Star

Former FBI agent Ali Soufan speaks with the Toronto Star’s National Security Reporter Michelle Shephard about terrorism, waterboarding and why the CIA censored his newly-released book, The Black Banners: The Inside Story of 9/11 and the War Against al Qaeda. Below is an edited transcript of their discussion.

MS: Let’s start with the most recent news. Wednesday night, Wired Magazine published FBI training documents that stated that “main stream” (sic) Muslims are likely “terrorist sympathizers” and the Prophet Mohammed is akin to a “cult leaders.” Did you experience such perceptions at the bureau?

AS: First of all, I would like to know if these documents are genuine or not. My experience with the training of the FBI, when I was there at least and what I saw until I left, is this kind of behaviour wasn’t part of the institutional culture at all so that for me was surprising . . . I’m not shocked (however that) in the government that we might find some people who equate Islam with terrorism. It’s leaking into the government from a popular culture where Islamophobia is unfortunately being marketed by some.