CIA torture report: UK intelligence agencies questioned over redactions

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/17/cia-torture-report-uk-inquiry-redactions

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The British parliament’s intelligence and security committee (ISC) has started to question intelligence agencies over whether they requested redactions in the explosive US Senate report on CIA torture.

The ISC has already been investigating broader allegations of UK agencies’ involvement in torture or mistreatment.

The committee said the results of its full inquiry, which began in June, will not be known until after the general election in May. If it feels it is right to do so, it will report on the purpose of any redactions in the US Senate report in the meantime.

The ISC said in a statement: “In this country, questions have been raised over the extent to which those redactions were made at the request of the UK authorities, and the nature and purpose of any such redactions. The intelligence and security committee has already begun questioning both MI5 and MI6 on that issue.”

The committee says it will investigate whether these redactions were sought on national security grounds, or to avoid embarrassment. It will also ask whether the redactions were made at the request of the UK, or by the US authorities themselves.

The committee promises: “Where we need to seek information concerning UK involvement or complicity direct from US sources, we will not hesitate to do so.”

It admits the scale of its full inquiry into detainee treatment is such that it will not be completed in the next three months, and so will fall to the committee’s successors in the next Parliament to complete and make judgements.

It adds: “If – as a result of our examination of the redactions of the Senate intelligence committee report relating to the UK – we feel it necessary in the meantime to raise any concerns, we will do so”.