He Feared the CIA Would Delete a Document Detailing Its Torture Program. So He Took It.

On our podcast: A Senate investigator who exposed the agency’s torture secrets tells his story.

Gina Haspel is sworn in during her confirmation hearing to become CIA director in Washington, D.C., on May 9. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Gina Haspel is sworn in during her confirmation hearing to become CIA director in Washington, D.C., on May 9. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Gina Haspel is sworn in during her confirmation hearing to become CIA director in Washington, D.C., on May 9. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
 

Daniel Jones noticed documents disappearing from his computer at a CIA facility. A staffer on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Jones had been investigating the agency’s torture program for years, reviewing evidence that showed how interrogators abused detainees after the 9/11 attacks and lied about it. The smoking gun was a document that Jones had come to call the Panetta Review. One night, he dropped pages of it into his bag and slipped out of the building.

 

Daniel Jones noticed documents disappearing from his computer at a CIA facility. A staffer on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Jones had been investigating the agency’s torture program for years, reviewing evidence that showed how interrogators abused detainees after the 9/11 attacks and lied about it. The smoking gun was a document that Jones had come to call the Panetta Review. One night, he dropped pages of it into his bag and slipped out of the building.

Jones tells the story in an interview with Sarah Wildman on our podcast, The E.R. He says Gina Haspel, who had a role in the torture program and now serves as the new CIA director, should be held accountable.

“I don’t think personally that people should be going to jail,” Jones says. “But maybe instead of CIA director — you’re involved in a torture program — maybe this is a good time for you to be in charge of the parking facility.”

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