Prisoner Inquiry Is Up in the Air

Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee failed to agree Tuesday on whether to open a formal investigation into U.S. interrogation and detention practices.

“It was probably the least constructive meeting of the Intelligence Committee that I have ever been to,” West Virginia Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV, the panel’s top Democrat, said after a closed committee session.

Rockefeller said the committee was “not facing its oversight responsibilities with sufficient seriousness” on subjects that would affect the country for the next 30 to 40 years.

All seven of the committee’s Democratic members have requested a formal review of interrogation and detention practices by the U.S. intelligence apparatus. The Democrats also want to look into “renditions” -- a practice of transferring foreigners to other countries for detention and questioning.

Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) said the panel had a “frank and useful discussion on committee oversight responsibilities on a very important topic,” but said how the committee would proceed was an “open question.”

“Basically, both sides agree that we need to further discuss this,” Roberts said, without using the word “interrogation” because of rules barring members from repeating what happens in closed sessions.

For two years, the intelligence agencies and the military have been accused of mistreating prisoners, in some cases torturing or killing detainees during interrogation. Public scrutiny grew nearly one year ago, when photographs of military personnel abusing prisoners surfaced. Congress has held numerous open and closed hearings.

Along with CIA and Justice Department investigations, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has commissioned 10 reports -- nine internal Defense Department investigations and one assembled by four veterans of defense issues -- that found that no policy set by senior government officials contributed to the cases of abuse.

In a speech last week, Roberts laid out his case against the need for a formal committee investigation, saying it could be handled within the normal course of oversight.

“Let me assure you again the Senate Intelligence Committee ... is well-aware of what the CIA is doing overseas,” said Roberts, who acknowledged that there had been problems. “They are not torturing detainees.”

Roberts said that launching a formal investigation would consume a great deal of energy, competing with the committee’s other priorities, and noted that the CIA’s inspector general and the Justice Department were conducting investigations.

The CIA report is expected to be concluded soon. “I believe the system is working,” Roberts said.