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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