Obama will not declassify Senate Torture Report

President Obama will preserve a report on the CIA’s torture programme among his presidential papers, preventing it from being destroyed under the Trump administration.

This means that the report will be exempt from Freedom of Information requests for 12 years, reports the Guardian.

Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he would build “a bipartisan coalition” to declassify the report.

“The American people deserve the opportunity to read this history rather than see it locked away in a safe for 12 years. When the president-elect has promised to bring back torture, it is also more critical than ever that the study be made available to cleared personnel throughout the federal government who are responsible for authorizing and implementing our country’s detention and interrogation policies”.

The report was produced by the Senate Intelligence Committee. A redacted version of its executive summary has been made public.

Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, former Chair of the Committee, said:

“It’s my very strong belief that one day this report should be declassified. The president has refused to do so at this time, but I’m pleased the report will go into his archives as part of his presidential records, will not be subject to destruction and will one day be available for declassification”.

Republican Senator Richard Burr, current Chair of the Committee, has asked federal agencies to return their copies of the report to Congress, leading to fears that the document could be destroyed.

Read the full article here.

Read Feinstein’s statement here.