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Pelosi Statement on Washington Post Report on Congressional Briefing of Administration Interrogation Techniques

December 9, 2007
Washington, D.C. -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued the following statement on a report in today's Washington Post about a congressional briefing on Administration interrogation techniques:

'On one occasion, in the fall of 2002, I was briefed on interrogation techniques the Administration was considering using in the future.  The Administration advised that legal counsel for the both the CIA and the Department of Justice had concluded that the techniques were legal.

'I had no further briefings on the techniques.  Several months later, my successor as Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee, Jane Harman, was briefed more extensively and advised the techniques had in fact been employed.  It was my understanding at that time that Congresswoman Harman filed a letter in early 2003 to the CIA to protest the use of such techniques, a protest with which I concurred.'