Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/cia-nominee-panetta-may-face-overhaul-of-counterterrorism-measures Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript As CIA director nominee Leon Panetta undergoes Senate confirmation scrutiny, he faces the job of leading an intelligence agency that is changing course on interrogation tactics and other policies. A former CIA official and a reporter weigh in on the matter. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. MARGARET WARNER: Leon Panetta has a long public resume in Congress and the White House, and today he came before the Senate Intelligence Committee hoping to further that service as head of the CIA.LEON PANETTA, CIA director-designate: I believe the director should be responsible for shaping the role of the CIA in the 21st century, to protect this nation, to keep it safe, and to bring integrity to intelligence operations. MARGARET WARNER: Panetta described a daunting list of challenges facing the agency, including terrorism, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Iran and North Korea's nuclear ambitions.The Intelligence Committee chair, Dianne Feinstein of California, began by asking about a policy that President Obama ended two weeks ago with an executive order. SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN, D-Calif.: Will the CIA continue the practice of extraordinary rendition, by which the CIA would transfer a detainee to either a foreign government or a black site for the purpose of long-term detention and interrogation, as opposed to for law enforcement purposes? LEON PANETTA: No, we will not, because, under the executive order issued by the president, that kind of extraordinary rendition, where we send someone for the purposes of torture or for — actions by another country that violate our human values, that has been forbidden by the executive order. MARGARET WARNER: Republican Christopher Bond of Missouri asked how else Panetta would deal with captured terror suspects. LEON PANETTA: I think it's fair to say that, if we captured Osama bin Laden, that we would find a place to hold him temporarily. SEN. CHRISTOPHER BOND, R-Mo.: Where do you hold him permanently? LEON PANETTA: We would… SEN. CHRISTOPHER BOND: I don't think you'd want to let him loose, do you? LEON PANETTA: We certainly don't want to let him loose. We would debrief him, and then we would incarcerate him, probably in a military prison. MARGARET WARNER: Some liberal lawmakers have called for an investigation of U.S. agents who implemented the harsh interrogation tactics that the Bush administration had deemed legal. Michigan Democrat Carl Levin asked about one particular technique. SEN. CARL LEVIN,D-Mich.: President Obama has said that waterboarding is torture. The attorney general has said the same thing publicly, that waterboarding constitutes torture. Do you agree? LEON PANETTA: I've expressed the opinion that I believe that waterboarding is torture and that it's wrong, but more importantly the president has expressed the same opinion.Having said that, I also believe, as the president has indicated, that those individuals who operated pursuant to a legal opinion that indicated that that was proper and legal ought not to be prosecuted or investigated and that they acted pursuant to the law, as it was presented to them by the attorney general. SEN. RON WYDEN, D-Ore.: I want to dig into the question of interrogations… MARGARET WARNER: Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden pressed Panetta on how the limits of interrogation would apply in a so-called "ticking time bomb" scenario. SEN. RON WYDEN: … person who has critical threat information, urgent information, and you need to be able to secure that information. LEON PANETTA: In the particular situation that you mention, where you have someone who could be a ticking time bomb, and it's absolutely necessary to find out what information that individual has, I think we have to do everything possible — everything possible within the law — to get that information. SEN. RICHARD BURR, R-N.C.: You answered Senator Wyden's question… MARGARET WARNER: North Carolina Republican Richard Burr asked Panetta to elaborate. LEON PANETTA: If we had a ticking-bomb situation and, obviously, whatever was being used I felt was not sufficient, I would not hesitate to go to the president of the United States and request whatever additional authority I would need. But, obviously, I would again state that I think this president would do nothing that would violate the laws that were in place. MARGARET WARNER: If confirmed, Panetta would be the fifth director of the CIA since 2000.