Feinstein* Accuses the CIA of Using Redactions to Muzzle Torture Report

This is what Dianne Feinstein means when she says that "certain redactions eliminate or obscure key facts that support the report’s findings and conclusions."

I would start getting my ducks in a row about having the Senate intelligence committee releasing the report unilaterally, because it is clear that neither the CIA, nor Barack Obama have the slightest interest interest in the public's right to know here:

The key senator behind a landmark congressional investigation into the CIA’s use of torture has rejected redactions made by the Obama administration ahead of a planned public release of the politically charged report.

In the latest struggle between senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who chairs the intelligence committee, and the CIA, Feinstein said she would delay a heavily anticipated disclosure of portions of the report in an attempt to reverse redactions that “eliminate or obscure key facts that support the report’s findings and conclusions”.

“Until these redactions are addressed to the committee’s satisfaction, the report will not be made public,” said Feinstein, who added that she intended to outline the committee’s desired disclosures in a private letter to President Barack Obama.

Another powerful senator and Obama ally, Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat who chairs the armed services committee and who spearheaded his own investigation into US military torture, called the redactions “totally unacceptable.”

Spencer Ackerman's analysis at this point becomes rather chilling:

Clapper left the door open to a “constructive dialogue with the committee.” In an indication of the deep strains between the committee and the CIA, that dialogue is largely brokered by the White House, which is attempting to balance the competing interests of both powerful entities while each looks to Obama for support.

So, apparently, the f%$#ing US state security apparatus is now a branch of government coequal to the Executive and the Congress, and, if the constant assertions of the State Secrets Privilege by the DoJ, the judiciary as well.

They aren't, and the fact that the CIA is defying the Senate committee charged with overseeing their actions is wrong from almost every perspective.

^*Full disclosure, my great grandfather, Harry Goldman, and her grandfather, Sam Goldman were brothers, though we have never met, either in person or electronically.

Full statement from her office after the break:

Aug 05 2014
Feinstein Statement on Redactions in Detention, Interrogation Study

Washington—Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today released the following statement on the committee study of the CIA’s detention and interrogation program:

“After further review of the redacted version of the executive summary, I have concluded that certain redactions eliminate or obscure key facts that support the report’s findings and conclusions. Until these redactions are addressed to the committee’s satisfaction, the report will not be made public.

“I am sending a letter today to the president laying out a series of changes to the redactions that we believe are necessary prior to public release. The White House and the intelligence community have committed to working through these changes in good faith. This process will take some time, and the report will not be released until I am satisfied that all redactions are appropriate.

“The bottom line is that the United States must never again make the mistakes documented in this report. I believe the best way to accomplish that is to make public our thorough documentary history of the CIA’s program. That is why I believe taking our time and getting it right is so important, and I will not rush this process.”

(Emphasis original)