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Former FBI counterterrorism expert
says CIA torture is assault on law of the land
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[October 17, 2007]
PALISADES, N.Y. -- Terry D. Turchie, a recently
retired FBI counterterrorism and counterintelligence expert, says
the CIA's interrogation techniques are "an assault on the law of the
land." Responding to the report that CIA Director Michael V. Hayden
is reining in the CIA's inspector general for harshly scrutinizing
CIA undercover operatives for running secret overseas prisons where
severe interrogation methods are practiced, Turchie issued a
statement from his Danville, Calif., office:
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 Torture is wrong.
When President Bush signed an executive order authorizing the use of
"special" interview techniques and placed the CIA in charge of
interrogations, he crossed a threshold that has diminished the law
of the land and undermined the war on terror. While lower-level
military personnel are convicted for offenses related to the torture
of prisoners in Iraq, government officials in Washington, D.C.,
disavow any knowledge of such activities. And yet, they have set the
tone for them to occur. A former high-ranking CIA officer has told
me that "torture is the only thing that works; it's been proven."
The current CIA director has ordered an inquiry into his inspector
general's efforts to investigate the use of torture by CIA officers.
These conflicting signals have interfered with the trust and faith
the government must establish and maintain with the American public
if we are to be successful in preventing and defeating terrorism.
For almost 100
years the FBI has defeated the Ku Klux Klan, broken the back of the
Mafia, aggressively attacked public corruption, and convicted or
indicted the terrorist masterminds behind the bombings of the World
Trade Center in 1993, American embassies in Africa, and the USS
Cole. Torture was never a factor. Allegations of torture can have a
detrimental effect on prosecutions, interfere with the penetration
of terrorist organizations, the establishment of long-term
relationships with sources, and create tension within institutions
of government. Such has been the case with FBI agents who have
reported abuses at terrorist prison camps in both Cuba and Iraq.
More recently, the CIA has assumed a more significant role in
setting the standards for the use of human sources by all the
agencies of the intelligence community -- including the FBI.
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 The continuous
creep of the intelligence collection mentality into every layer of
law enforcement and intelligence is hurting the government's fight
against terror. The purpose of terror is to strike fear,
intimidation and coercion to achieve changes in a nation's social,
political and economic fabric. America is on a march toward
replacing transparency and the pursuit of justice with torture and
secrecy, and the homeland will become less secure. Both of America's
political parties are to blame. It is time to pause and reassess. If
we continue in this direction, there will be no going back.
Terry D. Turchie was an FBI counterterrorism unit director and
one of the few recipients of both the Attorney General's Award for
Distinguished Service and the FBI Director's Award. He is the
co-author of "Hunting the American Terrorist" and is currently
working on a second book with co-author Dr. Kathleen Puckett,
entitled "Homeland Insecurity."
[Text from file received from Don
Bracken, publisher, History Publishing Company]
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