The New York Times is reporting that the destruction of the interrogation tapes showing CIA personnel using "severe" methods of questioning was authorized by attorneys for the clandestine Directorate of Operations:The former intelligence official acknowledged that there had been nearly two years of debate among government agencies about what to do with the tapes, and that lawyers within the White House and the Justice Department had in 2003 advised against a plan to destroy them. But the official said that C.I.A. officials had continued to press the White House for a firm decision, and that the C.I.A. was never given a direct order not to destroy the tapes. “They never told us, ‘Hell, no,’” he said. “If somebody had said, ‘You cannot destroy them,’ we would not have destroyed them.” The former official spoke on condition of anonymity because there is a continuing Justice Department inquiry into the matter. He said he was...(Read Full Post)