CIA torture report could ignite unrest, Kerry warns

By Matthew Lee and Ken Dilanian
Telegram

Secretary of State John Kerry has asked Sen. Dianne Feinstein to “consider” the timing of the expected release of a long-awaited report on the CIA’s harsh interrogation techniques.

Kerry called Feinstein to discuss the broader implications of the timing of publicly releasing a declassified summary of her committee’s report “because a lot is going on in the world, and he wanted to make sure that foreign policy implications were being appropriately factored into timing,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Friday.

She said Kerry during the call reiterated the support of the administration for the release of the report on detention and interrogation, but “he also made clear that the timing is of course her choice.”

These factors to consider “include our ongoing efforts against ISIL and the safety of Americans being held hostage around the world,” Psaki said.

Tom Mentzer, a spokesman for the California Democrat, said he had no immediate comment.

The Senate Intelligence Committee is poised to release early next week the first public accounting of the CIA’s use of torture on al-Qaida detainees held in secret facilities in Europe and Asia in the years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

It will come in the form of a 480-page executive summary of the 6,200-page report by Democrats on the committee, who spent six years reviewing millions of secret CIA documents.

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