Terror report release may fuel Congress, CIA spat

WASHINGTON -- A Senate panel's vote this week could strain the already rancorous relationship between lawmakers and the CIA, and pressure President Barack Obama to step into the fray.

The Senate Intelligence Committee will weigh calling for the release of key sections of a voluminous report on terrorist interrogations, hoping to shed light on the most unsavory elements of the Bush administration's war on terror after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The CIA, despite now serving Obama, maintains the report underestimates the intelligence value of waterboarding and other methods employed by intelligence officials at undeclared, "black site" facilities overseas. The entire investigation runs some 6,200 pages. For now, senators want to declassify only a 400-page summary and the 20 main recommendations.

But the differences between intelligence officials and Senate investigators have spiraled beyond the contents of the review. The dispute became public two weeks ago as the committee chairman, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, accused the CIA of improperly monitoring the computer use of Senate staffers and deleting files, and undermining the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches. The agency said the intelligence panel illegally accessed certain documents. Each side has registered criminal complaints with the Justice Department.

This week's vote could fuel the fight, if it goes in favor of disclosure. It would start a process that forces CIA officials and Senate staffers to go line-by-line through the report and debate which elements can be made public and which must stay secret because of national security concerns. The CIA and the executive branch hold the keys as final determiners of what ought to remain classified. Senators primarily have the bully pulpit of embarrassing the CIA publicly and the last-resort measure of going after the agency's budget.