Former CIA chiefs to be asked about torture tapes

By Thomas Ferraro

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former CIA directors George Tenet and Porter Goss will be asked to testify in a probe of the spy agency's destruction of interrogation videotapes of suspected terrorists, top lawmakers said on Wednesday.

The Democratic chairman of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee and the panel's top Republican described Tenet and Goss as key figures in the expanding congressional investigation into a possible cover-up of harsh techniques widely condemned as torture.

CIA Director Michael Hayden, who testified before the House panel a day after appearing before its Senate counterpart, reiterated that he had limited knowledge about the matter and said the agency could have kept Congress better informed about its activities.

The videotapes were made in 2002 while Tenet was director, and destroyed in 2005 when Goss was at the helm. Hayden took over in 2006.

Many countries, U.S. lawmakers and human rights groups have accused U.S. security services of torturing terrorism suspects since the 2001 attacks, including using a method known as waterboarding, which amounts to simulated drowning.

Torture is illegal in the United States and the House is due to vote on Thursday specifically to outlaw waterboarding. The measure would require all U.S. interrogators to comply with the Army Field Manual, which does not permit waterboarding.

BUSH: "WE DON'T TORTURE"

President George W. Bush insists that the United States does not engage in torture, but has refused to disclose what interrogation methods are used.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes, a Texas Democrat, said his panel definitely planned to call Goss and Tenet to testify.

"I think in order for us to get a full picture, there are a number of people that we're going to bring before the committee," Reyes said.

Rep. Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, ranking Republican on the panel, agreed. "You obviously have to have Mr. Tenet here. You have to have Mr. Goss."

The CIA's disclosure last week that it had made and destroyed the tapes drew expressions of outrage from Democratic and Republicans members of Congress. Many complained the agency had failed to even keep them abreast of their activities.

Hayden told reporters after appearing before the House Intelligence Committee: "One particular theme that we discussed was how we as an agency keep the committee fully and currently informed."

"We could have done an awful lot better job," Hayden said.

The American Civil Liberties Union asked a federal judge in New York to hold the CIA in contempt, charging that it flouted a court order when it destroyed at least two videotapes.