brennan admitted mistakes were made by some.he so-called enhanced interrogation program was a mistake overall. >> i cannot say with certainly whether or not individuals acted with complete honesty. when i look at what went on at the time, there are clearly the questions about why certain techniques were used. >> reporter: in the hunt for osama bin laden, did enhanced interrogation actually result in intelligence critical to finding him? >> i'm not going to attribute that to the use of the eits, i'm just going to state as a matter of fact the in fact that they provided was used. >> reporter: as he spoke at cia headquarters, dianne feinstein tweet stormed, cia helps keep our nation strong, torture does not. brennan says there's no proof enhanced interrogation was the reason detainees offered up useful information. >> the cause and use of eits and useful information is, in my view, unknowable. >> reporter: feinstein on twitter, cia says unknowable if we could have gotten the intel other ways. studies show it is knowable. cia had in

brennan's resignation. but something very interesting came in after director brennan's speech today. it was the statement from senator feinstein. and you had mentioned, i think, the tweets that were going on from her account during the speech, which seemed still pretty critical, and yet she put out a statement this afternoon that suggested that he had persuaded her on-- not persuaded but kind of-- that they had reached agreement on a number of point. she seemed particularly happy that director brennan said the c.i.a. had not concluded that these enhanced interrogation techniques, as they call them, did produce valuable intelligence. and, again, this is the distinction that director brennan is drawing between the individuals and the techniques producing the information. >> ifill: director brennan also said that the c.i.a. fell short in its responsibility to punish some of the people who had done these things some years ago. so what is happening now. what has changed? is the reform under way? can we just say

and with brennan tried to be both supportive of the c.i.a. but not use or adopt the rebuttal that c.i.a. director brennan wanted to use about torture itself. the president has used that word. brennan says that's a label. are they talking about different things? can you explain the confusion about their differences of how they approached the report? >> well, i think it's telling that president barack obama who campaigned on ending these activities and campaigned against torture has let c.i.a. director john brennan be the lead public face of the response. and brennan obviously has a much different audience to appeal to than obama does. obama hasn't been very vocal on this all week, but brennan gave this speech, i think maybe the firstever live press conference from c.i.a. headquarters. and so that's been really striking. there is, this will shake out over weeks, months, and years. there is a lot in this report. i mean, there are details that those of us who have covered this for years had no idea about and there is a lot of really compelling re

it's leading a lot of people to ask exactly who is john brennan?iser and now as the head of the cia. >> he is one of the hardest working public servants i've ever seen. i'm not sure he's slept in four years. >> reporter: john brennan has been part of the government's national security apparatus his entire career. the new jersey native joined the cia as an analyst in 1980, just three years out of college. since then, he's held positions throughout the agency. he gave briefings to president clinton in the mid-'90s, serveas chief of station in the middle east and was deputy director of the agency under president george w. bush. now the cia director is under the spotlight for his defiant reaction to a newly released report which slams the agency for torturing terror detainees during those bush years. he says it's unknowable if enhanced interrogation techniques directly caused detainees to offer useful intelligence, but there was useful intelligence. >> it is our considered view that the detainees who were subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques

when brennan came out to answer at c.i.a.eadquarters, this was unprecedented. >> it's not often you see a c.i.a. director give a full news conference live from c.i.a. headquarters. he took questions for 25 minutes from the press. he was defending his agency in the wake of this very incendiary report about enhanced interrogation program. he insisted most of the c.i.a. agents acted appropriately. >> it is vitally important to recognize that the overwhelming majority of officers involved in the program at the c.i.a. carried out their responsibilities faithfully and in accordance with the legal and policy guidance they were provided. they did what they were asked to do in the service of our nation. >> brennan also insisted that the c.i.a. did not lie to congress or to then president bush about the tactics it was using after the 9/11 attacks. >> what do you think his future is here? he was a top c.i.a. official when the program started. do you think he could be forced out? >> clearly some are calling for his resignation. a number

the white house maintains the president still has full confidence in cia director john brennan and brennan will have a chance to defend himself at a news conference at the cia later on this afternoon, carol. >> jim acosta reporting live at the white house and in just a few hours we should hear more from the cia director, john brennan, in a rare public exchange, the head of the nation answer spy agency will also field questions from reporters. cnn will carry the news conference live. it is scheduled for 1:30 eastern time. >>> still to come in "the newsroom," countries with human rights abuses of their own slamming the u.s. over the torture report. so have we lost our moral authority? should we care? we'll talk about that next. [ male announcer ] are you so stuffed up, you feel like you're underwater? try zyrtec-d® to powerfully clear your blocked nose and relieve your other allergy symptoms... so you can breathe easier all day. zyrtec-d®. find it at the pharmacy counter. zyrtec-d®. we asked people a question how much money do you think you'll need when you retire? then we gave each person a

and jacob brennan is using the phrase as well. dianne fienstein certainly taking issue with that. >> so that point, let's listen to brennan defending the use of techniques. >> there was useful intelligence, very useful, valuable, that was obtained from individuals who had been at some point subjected to eits. whether that could have been obtained without the use of those eit, is something that is unknowable. dianne fienstein tweeted: seems that they don't - can't agree on anything when it comes to the substance of the report. >> john brennan walked up to drawing a cause and effect between enhanced interrogation techniques and getting the information. he stopped short. he used phrases and words like subsequent. there was the enhanced interrogation, and subsequently there was information that proved useful, actionable intelligence information that proved useful. he didn't make the connection, saying it's unknowable. he left open in his mine that the enhanced techniques led to accessible intelligence. >> then there are the politics.

the white house standing behind brennan, but when brennan speaks in a couple hours if he continues tote the report in the face of what president obama said that constitutes torture that that's not who we are, should brennan be fired? >> well, i'd tell you what i'd like to hear brennan say. it will be up to the president to say whether he has confidence in the director. i'd like the director to acknowledge those techniques amounted to torture. and that was wrong and a mistake that will likely not be repeated. and whether it worked, it doesn't matter. what matters that america not engage in this kind of conduct. that's what i'd like to hear the director say. that would help instill greater confidence for me and the director. >> coming out of the shadows. t the architects, james mitchell, one of the two architects who designed the commission after 9/11. >> i don't think it's the right thing to do, i don't think it's the wrong thing to do. i think you can do it in a way that constitutes torture. i think you can do it in a way that it constitutes training. i think you can do it in a way th

the president has full confidence in john brennan according to the white house. where there is space, john and michaela, is whether or not these tactics should be used. the president has said that has eroded the moral authority of the united states. that's why he banned those practices, as he says, as soon as he came into office. that has not changed. if there's one clear distinction between the obama administration and bush administration it is on this question of using waterboarding and using those harsh interrogation tactics. >> as jim says, evan, the white house has full confidence in john brennan. you'll be in langley when he steps to the podium, what are you looking to hear from him today at the conference? >> one of the things that's happened over the last few years with john brennan in particular is he has sort of zigzagged a little bit on some of his answers about this program. i think there's going to be a lot of questions about exactly where does he stand on the way it was developed, the way it was told to the white house and the justice department and

brennan calls it unknowable.nformation could have been obtained without the harsh interrogation. while he would not call it torture, he did not use the word torture, brennan admitted some officers used techniques that went beyond what was legally authorized. >> a number of cases, agency officers used interrogation techniques that had not been authorized, were abhorrent and rightly should be repudiated by all. the detainees subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques provided information that was useful and used in the ultimate operation to go against osama bin laden. i'm not going to attribute that to the use. >> top bush administration officials fighting a firestorm by the senate 500-page torture report. bush-era lieutenant michael mukasey said it did not violate the law. michael hayden argued that rectal rehydration was not an interrogation technique at all. >> jake, i'm not a doctor and neither are you. i'm told this is one of the ways the body is rehydrated. >> are you really defending? >> i'm defending hi

. >> director brennan fit to serve the cia? >> director brennan particularly on thursday said some important things and also left out some things that were important. for example, he indicated that he would no longer be using the terms with respect to torture that the information would be otherwise unavailable. that's a real vindication of the committee because we showed that we were able to find bin laden, find ksm without torture. so that was good. what i was troubled also about was that he undercut the panetta review. the panetta review really agreed with what the committee found. >> but i go back, director brennan, you're comfortable with him running the cia? >> not at this point. >> you think the president should fire him? >> i want to give him the chance to end this culture of denial, to deal with the misrepresentations, if he

director, john brennan. to confuse those allegiances even more, when brennan took the microphone today, he sounded more like dick cheney than barack obama. >> it was 8:46 a.m. on the morning of september 11, 2001, when the north tower of the world trade center in new york city was struck by an aircraft commandeered by al qaeda terrorists. our nation cried and it prayed. and in our pain, we pledged to come together adds one as do what i e it could to prevent osama bin laden from carrying out another attack against our beautiful country. >> in a limited number of cases, agents used techniques that were not authorized and rightly should be repudiated by all. and woe fell short when it came to holding some officers accountable for their mistakes. >> brennan refused toe call those techniques torture. and he rejected they did not produce any actionable intelligence. >> detainees who were subjected to eits, subsequently provided information that our experts found to be useful. in the cause and effect relationship b

>> john brennan was walking a very -- >> [indiscernible] >> it sure did.the one hand, he's working for a president who in 2008 said we need the truth and reconciliation commission on this, and has been backed off from this overtime. mr. brennan himself is career cia and was there in the cia these eventsen were going on. he was very defensive of his own staff. he made the case that the report was one-sided, but he did not argue that they did not torture. that itso didn't argue could be proven that those enhanced interrogation techniques necessarily lead to valuable information. >> it was interesting. what is really fascinating is that the white house has made it clear that they are not going to get into this debate. in 2008 made obama it clear he believed these techniques were not useful. by banning their use in 2009 as soon as he became president, he was voting that they are not useful and would not be in the future. his own cia chief would not take a position on it. >> he said himself at odds with former cia directors who have said quite adamantly that th

director brennan and the c.i.a. today are continuing to willfully provide inaccurate information and misrepresent the efficacy of torture. in other words, the c.i.a. is lying. this is not a problem of the past, madam president, but a problem that needs to be dealt with today. let me turn to the search of the intelligence committee's computers. clearly, the present leadership of the c.i.a. agrees with me that the patent review is a smoking gun. that's the only explanation for the c.i.a.'s unauthorized search of the committee's dedicated computers in january. the c.i.a.'s illegal search was conducted out of concern that the committee staff was provided with the patent review, and it demonstrates how far the c.i.a. will go to keep its secrets safe. instead of just asking the committee if it had access to the patent review, the c.i.a. searched without authorization or notification the committee computers that the agency had agreed were off-limits, and in so doing, the agency may have violated multiple provisions of the

brennan seems ready to concede a number of the points.i would like to have heard a question as to why and who destroyed the tapes. our fox news' in-house judge says and i think he's right that this whole report stems from the irritation ofne feinstein if they destroyed the tapes. they hacked the computers of the oversight committee of congress for the cia. these are unanswered questions and part of the long conversation we're going to have. >> yeah, that really wasn't tackled in this news conference. juan, i want you to listen to another part of john brennan's news conference in which it sounded like a backhanded slap against an all democrat report. >> even on politically sensitive matters, such as the ssci's investigation into the intelligence failures regarding weapons of mass destruction in iraq, the committee succeeded in producing a report that was supported unanimously. this week the senate's committee on intelligence released the executive summary, findings and conclusions of its study of the agency's former detention and interroga

but john brennan also said the enhanced interrogation techniques were valuable. brennan's appearance was in rebuttal to this week's damning senate investigation of the c.i.a., and here's bob orr. >> reporter: in an extremely rare televised news conference, c.i.a. director john brennan acknowledged some interrogators used unacceptable and brutal tactics in questioning al qaeda detainees. >> in a limited number of cases, agency officers used interrogation techniques that had not been authorized, were abhorrent, and rightly should be repudiated by all. >> reporter: but brennan stopped short of using the word "torture" and broadly defended the c.i.a.'s detention program ordered by the bush white house in the tense days following 9/11. >> we feared more blows from an enemy we couldn't see and an evil we couldn't fathom. >> reporter: brennan rejected allegations by democrats on the senate intelligence committee that so-called enhanced interrogation techniques used on dozens of detainees produced no actionable intelligence. >> our reviews indicate that the detention and

with whom brennan worked. i think it's incredibly important, that we need to open this chapter in history and make it clear what happened, so that these kinds of activities aren't repeated. i think the senate report is filled with details that demonstrate that eits, enhanced interrogation techniques did not work, were not necessarily and that most if not all of the valuable intelligence that our interrogators gleaned in the hunt for bin laden and in thwarting attacks, came from other methods that weren't torture. >> jay, in all of the hue and cry about the torture tactics that have now been confirmed by this senate report, there's another cold front that is beginning -- and critics say there's an equally unethical practice happening right now. and that is the obama administration's drone program. even former c.i.a. officials say how can we be so outraged over the so-called torture tactics when we're killing people, often civilians, with the flick of a switch from the sky. here is jose rodriguez, he's the forme

they feel that brennan was over there to defend what they were doing. he reminded everyone about 9/11 and the fact that the cia employees were the first on the ground after 9/11, 15 days after and a cia employee was one of the first mesh -- was the first american killed when the war started, erin. and so one of the things that brennan was trying to do was -- you saw the tweets from dianne feinstein and he was trying to de-escalate this war frankly between the agency and the senate democrats because frankly he needs them going forward. >> interesting. of course she was tweeting out when she heard something she liked, as if she was saying and i was watching that war go down. michael mckay served under bush, he opened an investigation into the cia's destruction of interrogation tapes of detainees and that investigation later expanded under attorney general holder into a larger probe of the interrogation program and whether individuals should be charged with the crime of torture. thanks for being with me. brannan said the cia engaged in practices that were

. >> well, what brennan said was unknowable, he says look, we got information. what's unknowable is if we could have gotten the same information had we not used these techniques. >> right. >> that's an experiment. how long do you want to try that experiment? ksm wasn't talking. they used the techniques, suddenly he was talking. maybe he had a change of heart or maybe the techniques worked. how long are you going to wait to see if he actually is going to talk? >> director brennan's view of this report, andrea. he obviously doesn't like how it was done. thinks, as he said, over the top when it comes to transparency. does he disagree with the facts? >> yes. at this lengthy, you know, hour that we spent with him, and he disputes thej@kfact that information on bin laden was obtained by other sources, by other foreign intelligence agencies, before any of the torture which he would not call torture took place on abu zubaydah. other confirming sources indicate that he was lying. the question is, could they have gotten it from other ways? and he says that it was unknowab

what brennan is doing now is going back on what he told them to get confirmed. that's part of what udall is so upset about. frankly, and given where brennan is right now, i would almost say if you were mark udall you could say you are being insubordinate to your own president right now. that's another reason you might have to go. did on the team with your own administration. >> he likes brennan personally and he does not want to be at war with the cia, but he is ignoring the left. it's bizarre if you're trying to leave a great record for history. it is bizarre for barack obama to condemn the practice of the cia and let them are tracked the report. it's bizarre. >> it's completely weird. history shows they get a little spooked by the spooks in the cia. obama has been very deferential and there have been concerns raised about him. he feels like this is a guy he put in. i can't now walk away from him. i agree with the fact they are on different paths at this juncture is weird. looks weird, feels weird. >> his own administration did not cooperate very much with this

director brennan and the c.i.a. today are continuing to willfully provide inaccurate information and misrepresent the efficacy of torture. in other words, the c.i.a. is lying. this is not a problem of the past, madam president, but a problem that needs to be dealt with today.

just before the speech the white house praised brennan's record of service.s him someone who has the full confidence of the president of the united states. >> reporter: part of brennan's goal buck up moral. >> cia officers are operating in some very, very dangerous places on behalf of their fellow americans. so there is some concern and disappointment about what has happened >> reporter: he was clearly uncomfortable with all of the scrutiny. >> i think there is more than enough transparency that has happened in the last couple of days. i think it is over the top. >> reporter: and throughout his speech, it was really interesting, david, diane feinstein, the chairman of the senate intelligence committee who unveiled this report on tuesday afternoon was tweeting john brennan offering a running technique of what he was saying. afterwards she put out a statement that was largely conciliatory, but she is still taking question of whether it is unknowable of what these techniqued yielded. >> there also seems to be a distinction between feinstein's report saying hey,

he gives me no pleasure to say this but as i've said before tucker are brennan -- director brennan, that means resigning. >> not the first time mark udall has called for that. josh earnest called for a spirited defense. >> i had the opportunity to take a few trips with him when we were traveling with the president together. he is someone who i think adheres to the highest ethical standards that you would expect of a government official. >> the white house praises the senate report but lets them attacked the report. why is president obama straddling on all of this? >> let's speak to the udall thing. when john brennan was confirmed in march 20 he went up to the hill and to placate he basically said he was against waterboarding, thought torture was a bad idea and this was something that happened when he was in the cia because he served in the bush administration. there's part of what they had been mad about for a while. part of what he's doing now is going back and what he told them to get confirmed. that's part of what udall is so upset about. i would almost say if you were mark udall you

brennan we do things wrong. this is really wrong.doubt about the exquit sit form of torture that waterboarding is the second thing about, bill, and this is a fact. and anybody who has been subjected to this kind of thing will tell that you if you inflict enough physical pain on someone, they will tell you anything they think you want to hear in order to make it stop and that's just a fact. that's just a fact. i'm not disputing those facts. >> yeah. put yourself in the position of the viewer watching you and me right now. they are hearing from the highest levels of the intel community that, yes, we heard from mr. u yesterday on this program. okay? >> um. >>um yes, we did. we got worthy intelligence using these harsh methods. yes, we did. and then we hear from sitting senators, no, we didn't. it's impossible for the american people to know. >> well, all i can say is that that can be resolved. but i can also tell you that mr. brennan said he was for it and then he said he was against it. and now he said he is for it so there is a little

ask you about upcoming news conference in next hour with cia director john brennan. we assume he will respond to the senate intelligence's committee report for the allegations. world leaders calling for accountability and in some cases of prosecution and cia and other top officials and joe, the administration had to know those conversations were going to be sparked by this report. >> yeah. i think that is one of the reasons when barack obama became president, almost from the get-go said that he, he wasn't going to, you know, come in and punish people on this wasn't going to pursue it. and i think actually what this tells me is that just shows actually how the president has actually lost a little bit of his grip on his own party and on, and on the senate. with the postelection because, you know, now that we don't have the senate, democrats don't have the senate, and they don't, he is not going to be i believe a to do a whole lot for them, they will go through with things like this. by the way, this was a bipartisan report. the vote to release this was 11-3. as many re

one lawmaker calling director john brennan and his agency liars.y of congressional oversight. this of course in the wake of the scathing senate report on c.i.a. torture tactics. >> meanwhile, the justice department ruling out any new investigations or prosecutions, they say, involving the spy agency. as former vice president dick cheney and other bush-era officials vehemently defend the interrogation tactics. >> the white house is steering clear of the two big questions coming out of the torture report -- should c.i.a. officials be prosecuted for the harsh interrogations and did the interrogation program save lives? the white house just won't say. with the debate raging over the fallout of the torture report, the white house is staying on the sidelines. press secretary josh earnest refused to weigh in on whether c.i.a. officials

brennan admit you can't make that connection. while there may have been some good -- he made the point a couple of times they did find some useful information. but for every penny's worth of useful information, we did a dollar's worth of damage. i think it's right it's good it stopped. i never heard him say torture and i never heard him say crime. that's what these are. >> that would be the step they simply can't go to for a bunch of reasons, including legal reasons at this point. if the director accepts that word and uses that word, that could create some legal complications. >> i think that's right. the cia has worked very hard to avoid legal liability for its personnel. the cia does have a challenge when it comes to prosecuting things like this. i think they want to avoid that if they can. >> colonel, when the director says that this -- some of these cases were investigated and they did not find prosecutable cases, i find that language interestingly careful. and it may be that they simply didn't have enough evidence to prosecu

william j brennan.have reporters who cover the , and bob charles said barr and has been a washington post reporter ever since 1987 and has covered the supreme court since november 2006, including the nominations of sonia sotomayor or and elena , and return to the court. is the senior news reporter covering the supreme court, which he has been doing from 1958, mostly with newspapers, including the star. past 10 years, he has been running for an online clearinghouse about the supreme court. he has received numerous awards, including for legal journalism, and he has taught at colleges and universities. has covered the court and34 years for usa today more, and since 2004, the legal times, the livejournal, and the supreme court brief, a subscription newsletter. he is an author of a book published in 2005 by congressional quarterly press. he is a longtime member of the steering committee, and in 2010 was inducted into the freedom of information hall of fame. and other institutions. so we are very grateful to

much of what brennan had to say. cameras are rarely permitted inside the cia, so it was an extraordinary event when john brennan told a televised news conference that some rogue interrogators used brutal tactics in questioning al qaeda detainees. >> in a limited number of cases, agency officers used interrogation techniques that had not been authorized, were abhorrent and rightly should be reputediated by all. >> brennan did not use the word "torture." he broadly defended the cia's detention program ordered by the bush white house in the tense days following 9/11. >> there were numerous, credible, and very worrisome reports about a second and third wave of major attacks against the united states. >> reporter: brennan rejected allegations by the democrats on the senate intelligence committee that so-called enhanced interrogation techniques used on dozens of detainees produced no actionable intelligence. >> our reviews indicate that the detention and interrogation program produced useful intelligence that helped the un

brennan calls it unknowable. information could have been obtained without harsh interrogation. he would not call it torture, he did not use the word torture. brennan said officers used techniques beyond what they were legally authorized. >> in a limited number of cases, agency officers used interrogation techniques that had not been authorized, were abhorrent and should be repudiated by all. >> the subjects enhanced by the techniques provided information that was useful and was used in the ultimate operation to go against osama bin laden. again, i'm not going to attribute that to the use. >> top officials fighting that the firestorm created by the torture report. bush-era attorney michael mucasey claimed the techniques did not violate the law. while cia director michael hayden argued that rectal feeding was not an interrogation technique at all. >> jake, i'm not a doctor and neither are you. what i'm told is this is one of the ways that the body is rehydrated. these were medical procedures. to give you a sense. >

this, i think, was brennan's chance on behalf of the white house. make no mistake, to go out there and speak to the world and especially to speak to intelligence services around the world that are watching this. >> and to me, it felt like he was speaking to his very own intelligence service, as much as any audience, it was the audience inside the cia he wanted to reach out to and almost bolster them around. >> well, i think that's right and make no mistake behind the scenes, he has spoken to his agency staff, his agency team privately about all of this. we know that. they have really been reaching out trying to build moral. there's a lot of young people at the agency, young intelligence professionals who obviously had no part in this several years ago who they worry are not happy about this. and it will be hard to recruit if people see this kind of activity and don't feel that it's the right way to go. so there's some long-term strategic issues here. the potential for real damage to the intelligence community in the future going ahead, but how extra

whether that could have been obtained without those eits is yet again unknowable. >> brennan repeated his feelings on the use of harsh techniques. rocked by the senate report's disclosures. bob orr, cbs news, washington. >>> coming up on the "morning news," unearthing a piece of american history. a time capsule put in place by two founding fathers is discovered in massachusetts. this is the "cbs morning news." ...and the wolf was huffing sometimes, grandpa. well, when you have copd, it can be hard to breathe. it can be hard to get air out, which can make it hard to get air in. so i talked to my doctor. she said... doctor: symbicort could help you breathe better, starting within 5 minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. symbicort helps provide significant improvement of your lung function. symbicort is for copd, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. it should not be taken more than twice a day. symbicort contains formoterol. medicines like formoterol increase the risk of death from asthma problems. symbicort may increase your risk of lung infectio