WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's pick for CIA director, John Brennan, withdrew from consideration for the job in 2008 amid criticism over the agency's use of harsh interrogation techniques like waterboarding against terrorist suspects. This time, he's making it clear he strongly opposes such practices.
Former and current U.S. intelligence officials say Brennan wasn't so vocal a decade ago.
They say that when Brennan was the deputy executive director of the CIA's administrative arm, during the Bush administration, he didn't raise objections to the interrogation practices when briefed about the capture and waterboarding of a key al-Qaida operative.
Brennan's silence may have cost him his first chance to lead the spy agency. The issue is likely to come up again as Brennan faces confirmation hearings to be director of the CIA.
