CIA Headquarters Live Streamed a Torture Session to Judge If It Had Gone Too Far

​On at least one occasion, the CIA used video conferencing to determine whether or not the torture of a suspected al-Qaeda terrorist had moved into illegal territory, ​according to the Senate Intelligence Committee's torture report.

Even though agents on the ground told CIA officials in Washington DC determined that the footage it viewed of the torture was "quite graphic" and "disturbing," CIA headquarters encouraged agents on the ground to continue torturing the suspect, Abu Zubaydah (who was captured in Pakistan in 2002 and is currently incarcerated at Guantanamo bay).

The long-awaited report details the torture of Zubaydah and many other suspected terrorists. In Zubaydah's case, it details his torture over the course of 17 days in 2002 at a CIA secret prison known as "Detention Site Green."

Toward the end of the first week of Zubaydah's torture campaign, which included water boarding, "walling, attention grasps, slapping, facial hold, stress positions, cramped confinement, white noise and sleep deprivation" in "varying combinations, 24 hours a day," CIA agents at Detention Site Green expressed concern to Washington that they were "approach[ing] the legal limit" of what could be done to him.

To assess this, it asked if higher-level CIA officials would come witness the interrogation and torture.

"A cable stated that the team believed that a 'first-hand, on-the-ground look is best,' but if CIA Headquarters personnel could not visit, a video teleconference would suffice," the report said.

The CIA opted for the second option.

"On August 2002, a video-conference between DETENTION SITE GREEN and CIA Headquarters occured, which included an interrogation video described by the interrogation team as 'quite graphic' and possibly 'disturbing to some viewers,'" the report said. "After the video-conference, CIA Headquarters instructed DETENTION SITE GREEN to continue the use of the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques against Abu Zubaydah, but agreed to send two CIA Headquarters officers to the detention site to observe the interrogations first-hand."

When those officials eventually arrived, waterboarding continued for an unknown number of days before it eventually ended.

In the lead-up to the video conference, Jose Rodriguez, then-director of the National Clandestine Service within the CIA, noted that specific questions of legality were not to be shared in a way that could be traced.

Zubaydah has been in custody for more than 12 years, has never been charged with a crime, has never received a trial, and is currently incarcerated in the US-run prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.