CIA Chief: I'd Refuse Orders to Waterboard

Even if they come from the president
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 11, 2016 4:03 AM CDT
CIA Chief: I'd Refuse Orders to Waterboard
CIA Director John Brennan: No waterboarding, ever.   (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

If Donald Trump wins the presidency, he'll need a new CIA chief. In an interview with NBC News, John Brennan says he would defy presidential orders to waterboard prisoners. "Absolutely," he said. "I would not agree to having any CIA officer carrying out waterboarding again." Trump on the campaign trail has vowed not only to reinstate waterboarding but other tactics that were a "hell of a lot worse." In the interview, more of which will air on the evening news Monday, Brennan makes clear that he's not on board with such a shift.

"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 said. The position would seemingly run counter to a President Cruz as well, notes the Guardian. Cruz has said he doesn't view waterboarding as torture, and while he wouldn't bring it back in "widespread" form, he says he would authorize "whatever enhanced interrogation methods we could to keep America safe." (More waterboarding stories.)

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