Were developing the technologies that are going to help us, what we like to say decode, or interpret, what our dogs are saying or communicating to us, as well as help us communicate back to our dogs. Woodruff and, rock star Melissa Etheridge on life, music and her latest album. I still believe in the art form of the album that, that i want to spend you know 45 minutes with someone. I want to listen to it. I want to, i want to be on their drive from here to there. I want them to have it in the car and, and share that time with me. Woodruff those are some of the stories were covering on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by at bae systems, our pride and dedication show in everything we do; from Electronics Systems to intelligence analysis and cyber operations; from combat vehicles and weapons to the maintenance and modernization of ships, aircraft, and critical infrastructure. Knowing our work makes a difference inspires us everyday. Thats bae systems. Thats inspired work. Lincoln financial committed to helping you take charge of your life and become youre own chief life officer. And the william and flora 9hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Ifill the debate over what american agents did to terror suspects in the years after 9 11 was rejoined today at full volume. A Sweeping Senate report leveled damning charges against the Central Intelligence agency and gave graphic details of how it carried out interrogations. History will judge us. By our commitment to a just society governed by law, and the willingness to face an ugly truth and say never again. Ifill it was late morning when senator dianne feinstein, who chairs the Intelligence Committee, came to the floor to address the report. It shows that the cias actions a decade ago are a stain on our value and on our history. Ifill the findings follow a five year examination into c. I. A. Interrogation tactics authorized by the bush administration. The full report, crafted by the committees democratic staff, runs 6,700 pages and remains classified. Todays release was a de classified executive summary of more than 500 pages. It found the c. I. A. Program was far more brutal than previously disclosed. Socalled enhanced interrogation techniques were not effective in producing intelligence. The program had little oversight and was managed poorly, and, the agency provided extensive inaccurate information to the white house, congress, the media and public. The report does not explicitly call the interrogation methods torture, but in her hourlong speech, feinstein outlined a number of practices that are considered torture under international law. In contrast to c. I. A. Represenations, detainees were subjected to the most aggreesive techniques immediately. Stripped naked, diapered, physically struck and put in various painful stress positions for long periods of time. They were deprived of sleep for days, in one case up to 180 hours. That is seven and a half days. Ifill the report also detailed harsh techniques, including rectal forced feeding and hypothermia that led to the death of at least one detainee who had been held naked and chained. Perhaps the most infamous technique, waterboarding, was used repeatedly on Khalid Sheikh muhammad, the accused 9 11 mastermind who was captured in 2003. The report says he became so resistant to the simulated drowning, that one interrogator told superiors muhammad beat the system. In all, 119 detainees were subjected to what were described as enhanced interrogations. But feinstein made clear the cia was not the only responsible party. What we have found is a surprisingly few people were responsible for designing, carrying out, and managing this program. Two contractors developed and lead the investigations. Ifill according to the report, the cia effectively outsourced elements of the program to those contractors, who in 2005 formed a company that collected more than 80 million for its work. The use of most of the tactics reportedly ended in 2006. And upon taking office in january 2009, president obama signed an executive order banning the enhanced interrogation he later termed torture. Woodruff in a statement today, the president said these harsh methods were not only inconsistent with our values as a nation, they did not serve our broader counterterrorism efforts or our National Security interests. But the question of whether the but the question of whether the c. I. A. s toughest methods actually produced substantial results remains much debated. Most republicans on the Intelligence Committee, led by senator saxby chambliss, defended the practices in their own, minority report. Specifically, we found that, one, the c. I. A. s detention and Interrogation Program was with effective and produced valuable and actionable intelligence. Two, most of the c. I. A. s claims of effectiveness with respect to the use of e. I. T. S were accurate. Three, the c. I. A. Attempted to keep the congress informed of its activities and did so on regular basis. Woodruff the current director john brennan was involved in ifill the current director, john brennan, was involved in some of those decisions during the bush administration. In a statement today, he acknowledged wrongdoing, but said the interrogations did prevent attacks. Three former cia directors, george tenet, porter goss and Michael Hayden agreed. In their own lengthy statment, they argued that the interrogations led to the disruption of terrorist plots and prevented mass casualty attacks, saving american and allied lives. The former directors also said the c. I. A. s enhanced interrogations, or e. I. Ts. , made possible the 2011 operation that killed osama bin laden. Senator feinstein sharply disputed that claim in her speech. Ifill as to the decision to release the report, republican john mccain, a survivor of extensive torture as a prisoner in vietnam, strongly endorsed it today. I believe American People have a right and responsiblity to know what was done in their name. Ifill other republicans warned that making the executive summary public is a dangerous mistake that will prompt attacks on u. S. Interests overseas. And, over the last several years, the Obama Administration repeatedly sought to delay the release of the summary, and it continues to withhold some documents related to the interrogations. There is no indication when, or if, the entire 6,700 page report will be released. Well talk to senator feinstein and get the views of a former top c. I. A. Official after the news summary. Woodruff congressional negotiators worked today to hammer out a 1. 1 trillion spending bill, as a thursday deadline looms. The legislation would keep the government running through next september. Passing it will avert a government shutdown. By late today, most of the potential snags had been worked out. Congressional aides said a stop gap measure funding the government for one or two days might be necessary to give lawmakers time to finish the main bill. Ifill secretary of state john kerry is calling for congress to grant the president new war powers to battle the Islamic State group. At a Senate Hearing today, kerry said its time to pass a new authorization for military force, or a. U. M. F. He said it should not limit the fight to iraq and syria, and should not bar the use of combat forces. Howeever, while we certainly believe this is the soundest possible policy, and while the president has been clear hes open to clarifications on the use of u. S. Combat troops to be outlined in an a. U. M. F. , it doesnt mean that we should pre emptively bind the hands of the commander in chief or our commanders in the field in responding to scenarios and contingencies that are impossible to foresee. Ifill meanwhile, outgoing defense secretary chuck hagel arrived in iraq for a firsthand update on the fight against Islamic State. Prime minister Haider Alabadi said his army is taking the offensive, but he asked for more american planes and weapons. Woodruff the United NationsWorld Food Program has resumed aid to more than 1. 7 million Syrian Refugees. The agency said today a social Media Campaign helped raise more than 80 million, enough to resume its Food Voucher Program at least through january. The vouchers go to Syrian Refugees living in egypt, iraq, jordan, lebanon and turkey. Ifill in ukraine, Government Forces and prorussian separatists largely pulled back from fighting today. The socalled day of silence was a bid to revive a longterm ceasefire that was signed in september. Since then, more than 1,000 people have been killed in fighting across the luhansk and donetsk regions of eastern ukraine. Woodruff doctors in sierra leone spent a second day on strike, demanding better care for medical workers who get ebola. Three doctors died in just two days last week, in the west african nation. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization said the virus is spreading rapidly in Western Sierra Leone and central guinea, and it warned against letting up in the fight to stop the epidemic. We cant sit back and say the job is even partially done, because of this fear that we have all the time, that as long as there is infection in a part of the total area, that could easily spread, it could even spread to places where current infection levels are zero. Woodruff the ebola death toll in west africa now stands at 6,331. Ifill back in this country, police in berkeley, california reported nearly 160 protesters were arrested overnight in a third round of demonstrations against police brutality. They were among hundreds of activists who marched in the city. Demonstrators blocked traffic on a major interstate and even forced an amtrak train to stop. The rallies were mostly peaceful with no reports of injuries or looting, after two previous nights of violence. Woodruff the president S Health Care law was back in congressional crosshairs today. Republicans zeroed in on a consultant whos said supporters relied on very tortured language and voter stupidity. Id like to begin by apologizing sincerely for the offending comments that ive made. Woodruff that became a recurring refrain as Jonathan Gruber faced the House Oversight committee. The m. I. T. Economist helped craft the Affordable Care act, but was later caught on video saying this lack of transparency is a huge political advantage. And basically, call it the stupidity of the American Voter or whatever, but basically that was really critical to getting the thing to pass. Woodruff today, gruber said he spoke out of inexcusable arrogance. In some cases, i made uninformed and glib comments about the political process behind health care reform. Im not an expert on politics, and my tone implied i was, which is wrong. In other cases, i simply made mean and insulting comments which are uncalled for in any context. Woodruff but republicans, led by Committee Chair darrell issa, said, in effect, gruber was right the first time. Professor gruber is often said in washington to be the definition of a gaffe. Thats when somebody accidentally tells the truth. You made a series of troubling statements that were not only an insult to the American People but revealed a pattern of intentional misleading the public about the true impact and nature of obamacare. Woodruff the committees top democrat, maryland representative elijah cummings, defended the Health Care Law, but called grubers earlier comments absolutely stupid. Im extremely frustrated with dr. Grubers statements. They were irresponsible, incredibly disrespectful and did not reflect reality. And they were indeed insulting. Woodruff also on the hot seat today medicare and medicaid administrator marilyn tavenner. This was an inadvertent mistake for which i apologize. Woodruff tavenners agency initially reported 400,000 more people signed up for Health Coverage last year, than actually did. She blamed a doublecounting of people who enrolled for both dental and medical coverage. President obama has said the Health Care Law was fully debated, and there was no attempt to mislead the public. Ifill the Federal Reserve voted today to have the countrys eight largest banks set aside more reserves, in the event of unexpected losses. The goal is to prevent the need for future taxpayer bailouts. Requirements will vary, depending on how regulators assess a banks risk. The banks include j. P. Morgan chase, citigroup and bank of america. Ifill on wall street, stocks followed the lead of overseas markets that tumbled, particularly in china. The down jones industrial average lost 51 points to close at 17,801. The s p 500 edged down half a point to 2,059. The nasdaq rose more than 25 points to close at 4,766. Ifill still to come on the newshour. Crossing the line between interrogation and torture. Who gets to argue before the Supreme Court, and why it affects your life. Scientists work to help humans talk to dogs. And, rock star Melissa Etheridge on life, love and music. Woodruff now we turn to a more indepth discussion of todays Senate Intelligence report on the harsh physical and mental techniques the c. I. A. Used on scores of detainees. In a few minutes, well hear from someone who was a high ranking c. I. A. Officer during the time period covered by the report. But first, we turn to Senate Intelligence chairwoman dianne feinstein, who was the leading force in todays release. Senator feinstein, thank you very much for joining us. Let me just ask you first off, what do you accomplish with the release of this report . Well, i think we accomplish a number of things. Once we say to the world this is not what we stand for. Secondly, we make a record thats been dark and clouded very clear. And thirdly, this was a five and a half year effort by a number of our staff to get to the truth and to look at records, look at documents that were contemporaneous that werent reinterpreted 12 years later. So this report has been carried out. Its being made public, and i think what it says to the world is this must never happen again in this country. Woodruff senator, weve talked to some c. I. A. Officials. Some of them are calling ate political witch hunt. They say that no one at a top level of the c. I. A. Was interviewed by an Intelligence Committee member. Well, if you listened to my remarks this morning, what i pointed out is the reason why there were no interviews, and that was the fact that there was a criminal investigation going on by the attorney general, and, therefore, to do interviews, put some culpability and liability on the interviewees, plus the fact the c. I. A. Did not compel them to interview. But what this was was a very careful look at documents, cables, emails, all a kinds of messages to weave together a documentary analysis of what has happened. Now, the c. I. A. Can say anything they want, but all were asking is that people read the report and read the findings, and i think they will see that the big finding is that torture does not work and should not be employed by our country. Woodruff well, im sure, as you know, the c. I. A. Is saying something different. Theyre saying they did get Important Information from these interrogations and that the United States is safer today as a result of that. Well, we dont find that to be true. We find that there were other methods by which a lot of this intelligence was gathered, some even before the heavy interrogation started, some by human intelligence, some by technical intelligence, but by using torture the fact that we stopped terrorist attacks is simply not correct. Woodruff they also say, senator, that what they did is approve at the very highest levels of government, at the white house, by members of congress, that there were key members of congress who were briefed on what they were doing. Well, we were briefed in 2006, and i can tell you that that briefing was de minimis. As a matter of fact, it was given to us by the then director Michael Hayden, who used the word tummy slap, who said these were under professional guidance, strongly monitored. In fact, they were not. And i think what we found is that the president may well not have been told the depth and breadth of this torture program. He, we believe, was involved somewhat, but not like this report leads. And i would challenge him to read the report. And there is another 6,000 pages that remains classified that certainly people with security clearance can read. And that will be added documentation to the kind of torture that went on. This was a program that at a certain point was turned over to two contractors who got 80 million from the federal government for conducting this torture. We do not believe they were qualified. We do not believe that the quality of people in some of the black sites was what it should have been and we do not believe that there was sufficient oversight, management that showed a strong control of the program. As a matter of fact, what we found in places was that analysts were making operational decisions. That should never happen. Woodruff let me just bring you back to one of the fundamental arguments they make and that is so much of this was in