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News Tip: Experts Available to Comment on CIA Torture Report

Professors David Schanzer, Charlie Dunlap comment on report

A U.S. Senate report examines the alleged use of torture by the CIA.David Schanzer•    Quotes:"The Senate Intelligence Committee’s report documents how America lost its way in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. The methods of interrogation that were approved at the highest level of our government should never have been permitted," says David Schanzer, an associate professor of public policy at Duke University and an expert on counterterrorism and homeland security."The interrogation methods used were grotesque, contrary to American values and a violation of both domestic and international law. When high-ranking Justice Department lawyers were being asked if it is OK to place a detainee inside a small covered box and then pour insects inside it, we should have known that something had gone terribly wrong. It is even worse that the answer that came back from the Justice Department was 'yes.'""Senior officials in the White House or Cabinet should have stood up and said that this program was wrong, unnecessary and counterproductive. But none of them did.""The Bush administration deserves a great deal of credit for undertaking a number of difficult reforms after 9/11 to empower our government to effectively combat al Qaida. The CIA interrogation program, however, was a bad mistake and a permanent stain on the Bush administration’s legacy."•    Bio:David Schanzer is a professor of the practice at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy, and co-director of the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security at Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill. He is an expert on counterterrorism and homeland security. From 2003-2005, he was a Democratic staff director for the House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security.http://sanford.duke.edu/people/faculty/schanzer-david-h

 

•    Archive video interviews (different subject): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-5LZuoZpIE•    For more comment, contact David Schanzer at:schanzer@duke.edu(Resending from Monday):Charlie Dunlap Jr.•    Quotes: "While I haven’t seen the report, media accounts suggest that it will give more grist to those already hostile to U.S. interests. A lot of people will ignore the fact that America’s interrogation policies have long since changed because doing so will fit the narrative that they want to believe about the U.S. today. And they won’t pay any attention to those who are saying, as some already are, that the report is deeply flawed," says Duke University law professor Charlie Dunlap Jr., a retired Air Force major general and an expert on warfare policy and strategy."Overall, I doubt it will change many minds, one way or another, as this issue is completely and intractably polarized." “Although there may be some demonstrations and even some violence, I don’t think that it will particularly directly endanger Americans or American allies because those who represent a danger are already doing everything they can to inflict harm. After all, ISIS is beheading innocent Americans and others -- they hardly need more motivation for barbarism. But the risk is really to the ability of U.S. intelligence agencies to get the cooperation it needs from other countries, not to mention the debilitating effect on morale of CIA and other intelligence professionals."•    Bio: Charlie Dunlap Jr. is a professor of the practice at Duke Law School and executive director of Duke's Center on Law, Ethics and National Security who specializes in warfare policy and strategy, as well as international law related to conflict. He is a former deputy judge advocate general of the U.S. Air Force, and retired from the military in 2010 as a major general.http://www.law.duke.edu/fac/dunlap•    Archive video interview (different subject): http://www.wral.com/news/local/video/13737677/•    For additional comment, contact Dunlap at:dunlap@law.duke.edu