Senators Clash With CIA Nominee Over Torture

The Senate Intelligence Committee has formally requested a classified internal CIA study on its torture program, which lawmakers believe is deeply unflattering, the New York Times reports. Mark Udall revealed the existence of the report yesterday during a prickly hearing with Caroline Krass, President Obama's nominee for CIA general counsel. The Senate is fighting to declassify its own 6,300-page report on torture, which reportedly castigates the program. The CIA has blocked and vigorously rebutted that report, but lawmakers think its secret internal report backs it up.

Krass didn't respond directly to Udall's questions about the report yesterday, and Udall says he won't support her nomination until the CIA opens up about torture. He might not be her only detractor, either. The real drama in yesterday's hearings came when Dianne Feinstein pressed Krass on whether she'd release the Justice Department legal memos used to justify practices like torture and drone strikes. Krass was evasive at first, but ultimately replied, "I do not think so, as a general matter," arguing that the memos were "confidential legal advice," the Guardian and Politico report. "You are going to encounter some heat in that regard," Feinstein warned. (More CIA stories.)