CIA director says, even if directed, his agency won't waterboard ever again


Even if a president orders it, CIA Director John Brennan says, the Central Intelligence Agency will never again use "enhanced interrogation" practices, including waterboarding.
"I will not agree to carry out some of these tactics and techniques I've heard bandied about because this institution needs to endure," he told NBC News, later reiterating that he would "not agree to having any CIA officer carrying out waterboarding again." Waterboarding, banned by President Obama in 2009, is considered torture under international law, and was used by U.S. operatives after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on suspected terrorists.
Republican frontrunner Donald Trump has said as president he would authorize the use of waterboarding and methods "a hell of a lot worse," and rival Ted Cruz said that while he does not consider waterboarding torture, he would "not bring it back in any sort of widespread use."
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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