CIA destroyed videotapes of al Qaeda interrogation: Hayden

The CIA admitted Friday it destroyed videotapes of the interrogation of al Qaeda operatives in 2005, defending the controversial move as necessary to protect CIA staff. Central Intelligence Agency Chief General Michael Hayden made the admission as US media headlined the destruction of two interrogations in 2005 - at a time when Congress was probing allegations of torture.
In a statement to CIA staff, Hayden confirmed press reports that the agency videotaped interrogations in 2002 and destroyed the tapes three years later but said the detainees were not subject to illegal abuse.
"The decision to destroy the tapes was made within CIA itself," said Hayden's statement issued on Thursday and obtained by AFP on Friday. "Beyond their lack of intelligence value - as the interrogation sessions had already been exhaustively detailed in written channels - and the absence of any legal or internal reason to keep them, the tapes posed a serious security risk," Hayden said.