[Harlow:] Thousands of U.S. troops around the world are on alert right now as Washington braces for this morning's release of so the called torture report. It will reveal very controversial, possibly even brutal techniques used on terror suspects in the wake of the 911 attack. It is an official report. This is not a leak. We've been expecting this, but still the potential for violent backlashes caused U.S. embassies and military bases around the globe to ratchet up security. Our Barbara Starr is on top of this story. She joins us this morning from the Pentagon. Good morning, Barbara.
[Barbara Starr, Cnn Pentagon Correspondent:] Good morning, Poppy. This report from Senate Democrats has been in the works for months. The question now is what will happen when the world reads it?
[Starr:] This morning, thousands of U.S. military personnel on heightened alert. Anticipating the release of a report by the Senate Intelligence Committee on top secret interrogation tactics and torture of CIA detainees.
[Rep. Mike Rogers , Intelligence Chairman:] Our own intelligence community has assessed that this will cause violence and death.
[Starr:] The Marines are positioned in key areas, ready to respond to potential violent reactions directed at U.S. embassies and military bases around the globe. Believed to be included in the report, details of waterboarding and other interrogation tactics in the years after 911. The CIA believes the so-called enhanced interrogation techniques including waterboarding provided key information that prevented other terror attacks, and led to the capture of Osama bin Laden. But the report questions the effectiveness of those procedures. Critics of the $50 million report question the timing of its release.
[Josh Earnest, White House Press Secretary:] When would be a good time to release this report? And it's difficult to imagine one. Particularly, because of the painful details that will be included. But again, the president believes that it is important for us to be as transparent as we possibly can be, about what exactly transpired, so we can be clear to the American public and to people around the world that something like this should not happen again.
[Starr:] Former Vice President Dick Cheney dismissed the Senate report, saying the CIA's interrogation methods were, quote, "absolutely totally justified". Cheney, who hasn't read the report, strongly defended CIA leaders, arguing the program itself was worth it. Adding, "As far as I'm concerned, they ought to be decorated, not criticized." That sentiment was echoed by former President Bush.
[George W. Bush, Former President:] These are patriots. And whatever the report says, if it diminishes their contributions to our country, it is way off-base.
[Starr:] Current and former CIA officials will tell you that they say they were following what they were told were legal orders from the White House. The question this report may raise is whether the CIA told the White House everything it was doing Poppy.
[Harlow:] Who knew, what, when? We'll soon find out, when we read the report. Barbara Starr, thank you for the reporting this morning. And as U.S. Marines prepare for the potential of extremist violence in response to this, Washington is bracing for, of course, the political backlash. Let's bring in our chief congressional correspondent Dana Bash, also senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta. So, Jim, let me go to you if. Can you detail at least what we know ahead of this executive summary being released in terms of the interrogation and detention techniques?
[Jim Acosta, Cnn Senior White House Correspondent:] I think most of this is known already, Poppy. You know, the chief enhanced interrogation technique that's really at issue here is waterboarding, which John McCain, the Republican senator from Arizona, has called torture. President Obama has said we have tortured people. And then earlier this morning, Senator Angus King, the independent member of that Senate intelligence committee, said to CNN "NEW DAY," did we torture people? Yes. Did it help prevent attacks? No. So, there are lots of different opinions on this. Lot of this is going to center on these waterboarding techniques that were used during the Bush administration. President Obama, when he came into office, one of his first executive orders was to ban the use of these enhanced interrogation techniques. I was told by a senior official last night, Poppy, that this report was handed over to the Feinstein committee yesterday after it had been through a review process in the intelligence community. This report according to this administration official is 93 percent, quote, "93 percent unredacted." So, redactions were made, but according to this one official, much of this report is going to be released to the public, at least this executive summary, which boiled down from 6,000 pages to something like 600 pages and also in the words of this administration official, Poppy, there's not going to be anything, quote, "lost in the narrative." So, it sounds like when we see this report when it's released, it's going to be unsparing in terms of what the intelligence community was doing at the CIA in some of these sites, where enhanced interrogation techniques were going on, at least according to this intelligence community and intelligence committee report, Poppy.
[Harlow:] And, Dana, looking at the politics, this doesn't really split along party lines completely, right? You have, as Jim mentioned, you've got the dependent Angus King supporting it. You got Republican Senator Susan Collins supporting it. I'm wondering did some Republicans vote to declassify some of this? Are some backing the White House in this push?
[Dana Bash, Cnn Chief Congressional Correspondent:] Some of them are, John McCain as Jim mentioned is a perfect example. He has been out there on issues of torture against torture as somebody who was tortured. He was, of course, a prisoner in Vietnam for seven years. He says this has to come out, that we have to tell the American people, and the world, that the United States is different from other countries who engage in these tactics, and that was the point that Angus King, the independent from Maine, made this morning on "NEW DAY." Listen to what he said.
[Sen. Angus King , Maine:] This is who we are as a country. We tell the truth, and if we make a mistake, we admit it, and we move on. I've had military interrogators tell me that, getting the report out would actually help them, because at least it starts to erase the stain that this has put on our national character.
[Bash:] Now, the flipside of that, the opposing argument, Poppy, is that this is going to hurt the United States. That is why, as Barbara reported, military personnel are on alert, embassies around alert around the world because those who want to, for whom the United States is an enemy, will use this as a propaganda tactic. But the other thing I want to underscore here is that this has been years in the making. This has been a battle between the Senate Intelligence Committee, which oversees the intelligence community and the intelligence community for a very, very long time. Getting the information, first of all, about what these tactics were and then the whole concept of releasing it to the public has caused major, major tension between these two, and this is just to take a quick step back, this is a really important committee, because one of Congress's main jobs is to oversee the executive. When it comes to the intelligence community, which by its nature is secretive, this is the key committee that has to do that because we don't have any information as public citizens.
[Harlow:] And they poured through some 6 million documents as you said, Dana, over years to get to this point. Now, Dana Bash, Jim Acosta, appreciate it this morning. Let's talk more about what Dana brought up, the security of America and our forces oversees. Bob Baer, former CIA operative, joins me now. So, to that big question, Bob, will the safety of Americans and our armed forces be increased or jeopardized by the release of this?
[Bob Baer, Former Cia Operative:] Poppy, I don't think it's going to be jeopardized. I think this is being exaggerated. Look, we're fighting a war in Syria. We're bombing ISIS. We're still dropping drones in Afghanistan and Yemen. There's a war all over the world. And having the facts come out about enhanced interrogationtorture, I mean, it's all been out. I don't think there will be any reaction. I think the reaction is going to be political in the United States. I think a lot of Americans are going to be shocked by what happened. But more than that, they're going to be shocked how ineffective the torture has been.
[Harlow:] Well, the Justice Department, their lawyers, right, Bob, said that these techniques did not constitute torture. On the other hand, the Obama administration using the word "torture" to describe what happened to some of the detainees. I think it's interesting for our viewers to know, I'm certainly curious, who does the CIA answer to in terms of that, whether or not it's torture?
[Baer:] Poppy, it answers to the department of justice. And don't forget Congress, all of these techniques passed both intelligence committees, the Senate and the House. The CIA, this was not a rogue operation. At every stage they went to Congress, said, this is what we're doing and told them in complete detail. So, it's not like we're looking to CIA went out on its own.
[Harlow:] It's interesting because former V.P. Dick Cheney told the "New York Times" to portray this as a "rogue operation" is, quote, "a bunch of hooey." I do think it's important, given the fight against ISIS right now, and the coalition forces doing that, to consider what our allies may think reading this. What do you think?
[Baer:] Poppy, that's the problem. Countries that have cooperated with us after 911, Poland, Thailand, and the rest of it, you know, leaking all this out and issuing this report in the future they're going to be reluctant with terrorism. The deal was we were going to keep it out of their politics and we failed to do that. That's going to be the real damage.
[Harlow:] That's a big problem.
[Baer:] The United States can't keep a secret. It's always been a problem for the United States and it's going to be worse.
[Harlow:] Bob Baer, thanks for joining us this morning. Appreciate it. Still to come in
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