Saying that they’re concerned that the CIA may have “misled” filmmakers, U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is leading a trio of lawmakers in asking acting CIA director Michael Morell to answer questions about the making of the highly acclaimed movie, “Zero Dark Thirty.”
Feinstein, along with , Senate Armed Service Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Senate Armed Service Committee Ranking Member John McCain (R-Ariz.), sent the letter today to Morell.
The Golden Globes-nominaed picture, directed by Oscar-winner Kathyrn Bigelow, portrays the capture and killing of Osama bin Laden by Navy Seals.
The Senators are “seeking information provided to the filmmakers of the film…and clarification of comments made to CIA employees related to the use of coercive interrogation techniques on CIA detainees,” according to a release from the Senate today.
Feinstein and company are asking Morell to provide information obtained from CIA detainees subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques “and whether such information was provided prior to, during, or after the detainee was subjected to such techniques.”
Here’s a clip of the movie:
And here’s the text of today’s letter:
Acting Director
Central Intelligence Agency
Dear Acting Director Morell:
In your December 21, 2012, statement to CIA employees regarding the film, Zero Dark Thirty, you state that “the film creates the strong impression that enhanced interrogation techniques” were “the key to finding Bin Ladin” and that this impression “is false.” However, you went on to refer to multiple streams of intelligence that led CIA analysts to conclude that Bin Ladin was hiding in Abbottabad and stated that “Some came from detainees subjected to enhanced techniques, but there were many other sources as well. And, importantly, whether enhanced interrogation techniques were the only timely and effective way to obtain information from those detainees, as the film suggests, is a matter of debate that cannot and never will be definitively resolved.”
In our previous letter of December 18, 2012, we made several points based on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence’s Study of the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation program that are potentially inconsistent with your press release. Principal among those points was that “The CIA detainee who provided the most accurate information about the courier provided the information prior to being subjected to coercive interrogation techniques.”
Accordingly, we would ask that you provide the following to the Committee:
1. In regards to the Bin Laden operation, what information was acquired from CIA detainees subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques? When was this information provided: prior to, during, or after the detainee was subjected to the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques? If after, how long after? Please note whether such information corroborated information previously known to the CIA.
2. Please provide specific examples of information that was obtained in a “timely and effective” way from CIA detainees subjected to the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques? When was this information provided: prior to, during, or after the detainee was subjected to the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques? If after, how long after? Please note whether such information corroborated information previously known to the CIA.
Thank you for your assistance on this important matter.
Sincerely,
Dianne Feinstein
Chairman
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
Carl Levin
Chairman
Senate Armed Services Committee
Ex-Officio Member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
John McCain
Ranking Member
Senate Armed Services Committee
Ex-Officio Member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence