Amy Zegart, author of Spying Blind (now available in paperback) and the forthcoming book CIA 101, reads the CIA Inspector General’s Interrogation Report (an “eye-opener”) and posts her top five findings at Reality-Based Community.

1. The CIA was not a rogue elephant.
The Inspector General found that “there were few instances of deviations from approved [detention and interrogation] procedures.” (p.5) …The report also gives a picture of the agency repeatedly asking for– and getting — both authorization and reassurance from several NSC principals as well as the Department of Justice.

2. It’s the rules, not the exceptions, that alarm the IG. The IG was deeply concerned about the legal basis and political fallout of the detention and interrogation policies themselves.

3. We don’t know what interrogation methods work best.

4. All ten of the IG’s recommendations to improve detention and interrogation practices were redacted, which makes you wonder: are they blacked out because the CIA implemented them (making them current practice) or because the Agency didn’t?

5. Whither Congress? It seems that Congress has known about these practices AND about the violations that went beyond what DOJ authorized for at least three years, probably longer.

Click over to read the complete article.