CIA Torture Report Could Strip Some Governments of Their Power: US Senator

Senator Richard Burr has stated that the release of the CIA interrogation techniques report will result in difficulties for some foreign governments, who participated in the CIA program, to maintain their authority.

WASHINGTON, December 12 (Sputnik) — The release of the US Senate Intelligence Committee's report on the CIA's enhanced interrogation practices will lead to some foreign governments, who took part in the CIA program, to lose their ability to govern, Senator Richard Burr has told Sputnik.

"There are going to be some governments that are going to be difficult to maintain their control without special elections, because their public will respond and say, "We never should have done this," Burr, who is set to chair the Intelligence Committee, said Thursday, referring to the consequences of the release of the so-called torture report.

Released by the committee Tuesday, the report contains information indicating certain foreign governments" participation in questionable US interrogation techniques.

"We [the United States] had countries around the world that were our partners throughout this. They allowed us to interrogate prisoners in their countries without the knowledge of the public," Burr explained.

The 500-page report does not contain the names of the countries, who aided the United States in the detention and interrogation program, but civil liberties groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Open Society Justice Initiative have worked to decode the report and release the names of over fifty countries, who participated in the program.

According to Burr, numerous US federal agencies, including the State Department, the Pentagon, and the intelligence community, will have to deal with the effects of the report on embassy security and international partnerships.

The Senate Intelligence Committee report outlined the practices of CIA officials between 2001 and 2006. Findings listed in the report state that the use of enhanced interrogation techniques was not an effective means of gaining intelligence. The report also said that the CIA systematically impeded oversight at all levels of government.