[Carol Costello, Cnn Anchor:] And good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. U.S. troops on alert, jihadist rallying in online. This morning, Muslim extremists are issuing a worldwide call to retaliate for the so-called torture report. It's graphic revelations of how the CIA brutally interrogated some 911 terror suspects, could put Americans in the crosshairs, both at home and abroad. Just minutes from now, the House Speaker John Boehner is due to hold a news conference. When Mr. Boehner begins speaking, we'll take it live for you. The CIA's tactics described in chilling detail included including waterboarding, sleep deprivation and ice water baths and worse. The Senate committee concluded that the harsh tactics simply did not work in getting valuable intelligence. And the Justice Department says it will not reopen its inquiry into whether crimes were committed, raising new questions of accountability and blame. We're covering all angles of this from Capitol Hill to the Pentagon and beyond as this developing story unfolds. Let's begin our coverage today with Jim Acosta. He's at the White House. Good morning, Jim.
[Jim Acosta, Cnn Correspondent:] Good morning, Carol. And the White House has scheduled an early briefing this morning with reporters. That's scheduled to happen in about 45 minutes from now and I think this question about the torture report will be the question of the briefing for White House press Secretary Josh Earnest. Yesterday, the president defended the release of that torture report saying that mistakes were made, but former top White House CIA officials are coming forward and speaking out and they are defending their actions.
[Acosta:] It was stinging criticism for the CIA from a sitting president. In an interview with Telemundo, President Obama said the agency was wrong to use harsh interrogation techniques on terror detainees after the 911 attacks that amounted to torture.
[Barack Obama, President Of The United States Of America:] I think in the midst of a national trauma and uncertainty as to whether these attacks were going to repeat themselves, what's clear is that the CIA set up something very fast without a lot of forethought to what the ramifications might be.
[Acosta:] The president was responding to Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Dianne Feinstein's damning report on CIA interrogations that said detainees were waterboarded, kept in dungeon conditions, while others were naked, hooded and dragged while being slapped and punched. The report said the agency misled the Bush administration about the program and that no CIA officer up to and including CIA directors briefed the president on the tactics before April, 2006. In response to the report, CIA Director John Brennan said the brutal tactics did produce intelligence that helped thwart attack plans, capture terrorists and save lives. Feinstein told CNN that's wrong.
[Sen. Dianne Feinstein  Intelligence Committee Chairwoman:] An examination of the records going back to the beginning of the program indicates that this is simply not true.
[Acosta:] But three former CIA directors say their program helped lead to the killing of Osama bin Laden. In an op-ed in the "Wall Street Journal," George Tenet, Michael Hayden and Porter Goss insisted they suspected bin Laden was plotting to blow up New York City with a nuclear weapon, adding it felt like the classic ticking time bomb scenario every single day. Many top Republicans accuse Feinstein of unleashing a political attack.
[Sen. John Thune,  South Dakota:] It's very clear this appears to be simply an attempt to rewrite history by the Democrats to bash the Bush administration.
[Acosta:] But one GOP senator, John McCain, a former prisoner of war, defended the report saying torture does not work.
[Sen. John Mccain  Arizona:] I know from personal experience that the abuse of prisoners will produce more bad than good intelligence.
[Acosta:] And as for the president's claim that those harsh interrogation tactics amount to torture, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest was asked this question yesterday, he said the president still stands by that claim. Carol.
[Costello:] All right. Jim Acosta reporting live from the White House this morning. As I said, U.S. troops around the world are bracing for the threat of terrorist retaliation to that so-called terror report. The Senate investigation steered by Democrat Dianne Feinstein detailed the CIA's brutal tactics to interrogate some 911 terror suspects. Here is Senator Feinstein reeling off a long laundry list of documented abuses.
[Feinstein:] An otherwise healthy detainee who was being held mostly nude and chained to a concrete floor died at the facility from what is believed to have been hypothermia. Detainees were subjected to the most aggressive 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's seven and a half days. Over a week with no sleep. Usually standing or in stress positions. At times with their hands tied together over their heads, chained to the ceiling. CIA detainees at one facility described as a dungeon were kept in complete darkness, constantly shackled in isolated cells with loud noise or music and only a bucket to use for human waste. Interrogators and guards used what they called rough takedowns, in which a detainee was grabbed from his cell, clothes cut off, hooded and dragged up and down a dirt hallway while being slapped and punched. The CIA led several detainees to believe they would never be allowed to leave CIA custody alive, suggesting to Abu Zubaydah that he would only leave in a coffin-shaped box.
[Costello:] Now that the information has been made public, as I've told you, U.S. troops are on alert around the world. Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon to tell us more. Good morning.
[Barbara Starr, Cnn Correspondent:] Good morning, Carol. This has actually been going on since late last week when the Pentagon found out the report was about to be made public. I don't think it's a surprise to anybody that it was a lot of concern that there might be some sort of violent retaliation attack against U.S. interests. U.S. embassies, U.S. military bases, U.S. citizens around the world. So, contingency forces, mainly U.S. Marines for Africa and the Middle East, put on shorter alert so they would be ready to go faster if trouble did break out. It's interesting, 24 hours after the report has come out everything is quiet. We've talked to a number of military sources, they say they see no evidence of anything brewing. Everyone will stay on alert, everyone will remain very watchful. They are still concerned, but right now there doesn't appear to be an awful lot of reaction either on line, in social media or out on the street. Carol?
[Costello:] And that's a good thing. Barbara Starr reporting live from the Pentagon. While many Americans have been shocked by the actions included in that Senate torture report, some former intelligence officials are standing behind it. Earlier today, General Michael Hayden, the former director of the CIA, stood up for the program saying the spy agency was working for the American people.
[Gen. Michael Hayden, Fmr. Cia Director:] The way the nation speaks to us is the president authorizes something, we inform the Congress, the Attorney General says it's legal, and the director of CIA says "I think this is going to be effective, it's worth the candle." At that point you think you have got a social contract with the American people. Not with a particular administration. So what's happening now these folks having the rug pulled out from under them, people who thought they were doing what we wanted them to do, that's unprecedented?
[Costello:] General Hayden is not a happy man this morning. So, what else did he say? I'm joined by CNN investigative correspondent Chris Frates to tell us. Good morning.
[Chris Frates, Cnn Correspondent:] Hey, good morning, Carol. I talked to James Mitchell yesterday. He's the reported architect of that interrogation program. Now, he couldn't confirm or deny that he's the psychologist mentioned in the report because he has a non-disclosure agreement with the government. But he had pretty strong feelings, calling the report "a partisan pile of bull." Of course he used a more colorful word that's not really suitable on TV. He also said that when the interrogation program was operating CIA officials were in a running gun battle with al Qaeda. It was a group they knew very little about and they did the best they could given the information they had, Carol.
[Costello:] They did the best they could given the information they had, but did he say that the tactics they used were right and that he'd do it again?
[Frates:] Well, he seemed to defend those interrogation techniques like waterboarding and sleep deprivation. He said "Nothing was done to those detainees that aren't done to our servicemen and women and women by our own training programs." He also says that he thinks we need to have a national discussion about torture and whether we should allow terrorists to lawyer up.
[Costello:] You know, some of the details in that report are so disturbing. Like the forced rectal feeding. He's for that?
[Frates:] Well, I mean that's right. And when I pushed him a little bit, he reminded me that he did sign a non-disclosure agreement with the government and I asked him about a firm that's mentioned in that report that paid him $80 million and I said it was, that in fact, your firm? He said he couldn't talk about that. But he did say that if the government really wanted to know the truth it would release him from the agreement. He says in that case he'd be happy to talk more, Carol.
[Costello:] I would love that and I'm sure many other Americans would as well. Chris Frates, thanks so much. As I mentioned, we're waiting for Speaker John Boehner to talk at any moment and when he does, when he gets behind that podium we'll bring it to you live. Also, still to come in the "NEWSROOOM" that ride to the airport might be cheaper but are you paying the price with your safety? We'll take a look at the Uber backlash just ahead.