Hayden: Chain of Interrogations Yielded Bulk of Intelligence Knowledge

Five years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, 60 percent of the knowledge of the U.S. intelligence community about Al Qaeda, its leadership structure and its operations came from enhanced interrogation techniques. Other U.S. officials told on Tuesday that they stand by a May 2005 memo that said that enhanced techniques used in interrogations "have led to specific, actionable intelligence as well as a general increase in the amount of intelligence regarding Al Qaeda and its affiliates."On Tuesday, President Obama's national intelligence director argued in a memo to staff -- and a public statement -- that it's impossible to know whether CIA interrogators would have gleaned the same information using techniques that are not deemed controversial. DNI Dennis Blair added that waterboarding and other approved methods that have now been abandoned damaged the United States' image abroad. "The information gained from these techniques was valuable in some instances, but there is no way of knowing whether the same information could have been obtained through other means. The bottom line is these techniques have hurt our image around the world, the damage they have done to our interests far outweighed whatever benefit they gave us and they are not essential to our national security," he said.