Negroponte Says Ruling Halted ‘Tough’ CIA Methods

The nation’s top intelligence official acknowledged Sunday that the CIA had used “tough” and “aggressive” interrogation techniques that were discontinued when the Supreme Court ruled that terrorism suspects are entitled to the protections of the Geneva Convention.

Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte said the CIA might still question terrorism suspects, but he added it was “up in the air” whether agency interrogators would be free to employ methods that had been used over the last five years and that Negroponte described as necessary and effective.

“There’s been precious little activity of that kind for a number of months now, and certainly since the Supreme Court decision,” Negroponte said on “Fox News Sunday,” citing “legal uncertainties surrounding the entire program and which we think must be clarified.”

Negroponte’s appearance was part of a campaign by the Bush administration to defend a CIA program in which high-ranking Al Qaeda operatives had been held in secret prisons abroad and subjected to interrogation methods that critics contend are tantamount to torture.

Negroponte did not discuss specific interrogation techniques, but the CIA is known to have employed such methods as sleep deprivation; light and sound manipulation; and “water-boarding,” in which a detainee is strapped to a board and made to fear he is drowning.

In appearances on the Sunday talk shows, Negroponte and national security advisor Stephen J. Hadley both reiterated the White House position that the CIA program would probably be shut down if Congress did not approve legislation clarifying or reinterpreting key provisions of the Geneva Convention.

But the administration faces a revolt from key Senate Republicans, including John McCain of Arizona, who have rejected the White House proposal and are siding with Democrats to advance legislation that would tighten rules regarding treatment of detainees.

Both sides signaled Sunday that they believed they could reach a compromise to let the CIA program continue, but they gave no indication that differences had been resolved.

McCain, who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam, said on ABC’s “This Week” that he believed the CIA program should be preserved, but that it should be in compliance with the existing language in the Geneva Convention, which sets rules for the conduct of wars and the treatment of prisoners. It has been ratified by more than 190 countries, including the United States.

“I’m not saying we should shut down the program. In fact, we should have a program,” McCain said. “What I’m saying is that we should not do things which would be condemned by everyone in the world.”

The White House has argued that the language is vague, leaving CIA officers vulnerable to prosecution or lawsuits. In particular, the debate has centered on the meaning of provisions in what is known as Common Article 3, which bans conduct including “outrages upon personal dignity” and “humiliating and degrading treatment.” Hadley said those provisions must be clarified for the CIA program to continue.

“I’m saying that nobody knows what humiliating treatment is. What does it mean?” Hadley said on CNN’s “Late Edition.”

“And the concern is that [interrogators] are being asked to take on very tough assignments. They want to be clear as to what is required, and they want it to be interpreted by U.S. law.”

The two sides also dispute rules for prosecuting terrorist suspects in special tribunals, including whether the accused should have access to the U.S. government’s classified evidence against them.

Bush announced two weeks ago that 14 terrorism suspects in CIA custody, including the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, had been transferred to Defense Department custody at the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Negroponte’s remarks confirmed that the questioning of those suspects had all but ceased by the time the Supreme Court issued its June ruling in the case of Hamdan vs. Rumsfeld, which essentially rejected the Bush administration argument that Al Qaeda suspects were unlawful combatants not entitled to Geneva protections.

Asked whether the CIA would interrogate any future captive in the fight against terrorism, Negroponte said, “That person may be questioned, but using the kinds of aggressive techniques, the tough techniques ... may be problematic because of the uncertainty that has been introduced by the current situation.”

greg.miller@latimes.com