Udall Welcomes Vice President's Support for Declassifying, Making Public Report on CIA Detention, Interrogation Program

Statement

Mark Udall, who serves on the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, welcomed recent remarks from Vice President Joe Biden in support of declassifying and making public the committee's report on the CIA's detention and interrogation program -- a push Udall has helped lead in the Senate.

"Vice President Biden said it best when he stated, 'the only way you excise the demons' is to acknowledge the wrongs done under the CIA's detention and interrogation program. I applaud his honesty and appreciation of the importance of 'coming clean' in order to move beyond the mistakes of the past," Udall said. "I recently urged the Obama administration to acknowledge and correct the false public record about the CIA's detention and interrogation program and to lead in instituting the necessary reforms to ensure that such a program is never established again.

"As a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I know the public record is false and that Congress and the American people have been misled on the effectiveness of this brutal, wrongheaded program. The Senate Intelligence Committee spent more than three years studying the CIA's detention and interrogation program, and produced a 6,000-page report, based on a review of over six million pages of CIA documents and other records. In December, I voted with a majority of my colleagues on the committee to report out the study, and to send it to the CIA for its review and comments. I hope the vice president will help the White House and the CIA understand the importance of engaging with the committee on the report, supporting its declassification and coming clean with the American people."

Udall led the push during CIA Director John Brennan's confirmation hearing in pressing the then-nominee to commit to declassifying the committee's report and correcting inaccurate information in the public record on the effectiveness of the CIA's use of enhanced interrogation techniques and detention measures. He called Brennan's Senate confirmation last month "only the beginning" of his efforts to ensure that the agency corrects the record on the Bush administration's detention and interrogation program and declassifies the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence's more than 6,000-page report on the program.

Udall also was part of the bipartisan group of senators who successfully pushed the White House to provide access to the Department of Justice opinions outlining the legal basis for the targeted killing of U.S. citizens using drones.

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