WASHINGTON — The new GOP chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee intends to give back to the CIA an explosive, secret document that has been at the center of a years-long struggle between Congress and the executive branch.
The chairman, North Carolina’s Richard Burr, is also asking executive branch agencies to return unredacted copies of the 6,600 page torture report, he told The Huffington Post in an interview Tuesday night.
The twin moves mark a sharp turn in a new direction for congressional oversight of the intelligence community. The secret document is known colloquially as the Panetta Review, and Democrats who have read it say it is a broad and detailed admission of wrongdoing by the CIA. The agency argues that the document was incomplete when obtained by Senate investigators and doesn’t represent a consensus view within the CIA.
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“I think that, from what I know about Evan [Bayh], I trust him, I know it was a thorough review. I’m sure Dianne — or, Democrats may have some concerns about it, as far as I’m concerned, that’s a chapter that’s closed,” Burr said.
“My intent right now is not to rehash things that might have been disagreements in the committee. The report’s done, what happened happened. Everybody’s got their own interpretation.”
