.@MarkUdall: Read CIA Torture Report into Congressional Record

During his tenure as a Senator from Colorado, Mark Udall has been a champion of government transparency: on privacy and government surveillance, secret law, torture, and drone strikes. Sen. Udall lost his re-election bid this November, which puts him in a unique position to carry out one final mission to advance government transparency.

News reports have indicated that the Senate Intelligence Committee’s CIA torture report details not only brutal abuse the CIA perpetrated on detainees, but also illegal deception CIA officials conducted on Congress and other executive branch officials about the program in order to evade democratic and legal accountability. The CIA has been preventing the report from becoming public. This is information the public deserves to know—and there is a way to get it to the people without the approval of the CIA.

In 1971, Sen. Mike Gravel, frustrated with attempts to make the Pentagon Papers public through ordinary channels, used a key provision of the U.S. Constitution to get the documents published. According to the Speech and Debate Clause, members of Congress have an absolute free-speech right on the floor or in committee—even if what they say includes classified information. [1] So Gravel—along with an aide—read the entire Pentagon Papers into the Congressional Record, which is published for anyone to read.

Government transparency advocates are now urging Sen. Udall to follow Gravel’s lead and read the Senate intelligence committee’s torture report into the congressional record. [2] The worst punishment he’d face would be censorship or expulsion by his colleagues—but since he is out of office in January in any event, he has little to fear.

Urge Senator Udall to use this unique opportunity to defend the public interest and let the American people know about the CIA’s use of torture by signing our petition.

References:
1. “Senator Who Put Pentagon Papers Into Public Record Urges Udall To Do Same With Torture Report,” Dan Froomkin, The Intercept, November 10, 2014, https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/11/10/mike-gravel-senator-put-pentagon-papers-public-record-urges-udall-torture-report
2. “Mark Udall's loss is a blow for privacy, but he can go out with a bang: 'leak' the CIA torture report,” Trevor Timm, The Guardian, November 5, 2014, http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/05/mark-udall-loss-privacy-cia-torture-report