WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Angus King (I-Maine) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, released the following statements today after voting in favor of an amendment, which they both cosponsored, to the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act that would prohibit the use of torture in U.S. government interrogations:

“As a nation, we set out to be different, to break with a past where cruelty was routine, humanity was disposable, and an enemy’s barbarity justified a response in kind,” Senator King said. “We may not live that creed every day. Indeed, there are times when we have fallen short of our ideal. And when we do, it is our responsibility to acknowledge those mistakes, to learn from them, and to strive to rise above them. By definitively prohibiting the use of torture techniques, we will take an important step towards rectifying our past mistakes and demonstrating – before the eyes of the world – that the United States does not and never again will condone torture.”

“The use of torture is wrong and inhumane, and I strongly oppose the use of cruel interrogation tactics,” Senator Collins said. “This amendment reaffirms the prohibition of torture and improves American standards for interrogation in accordance with our values as a nation.”

The amendment, which was approved by a vote of 78-21, would:

• require all U.S. government interrogations that occur outside a law enforcement context to follow the Army Field Manual on Interrogations, which allows interrogators to use a specific set of interrogation techniques, prohibits them from using any others, and includes clear prohibitions on torture and cruel treatment.
• require that, within one year after the amendment becomes law, the interrogation manual be reviewed and revised to ensure that it complies with all U.S. legal obligations and reflects current, evidence-based, best practices for interrogation that are designed to elicit reliable and voluntary statements and do not involve the use or threat of force.
• require that the manual, and any revisions to it, remain public.
• mandate that the International Committee of the Red Cross be notified of, and given prompt access to, all detainees in U.S. custody or control, no matter where they are being held.

In April 2014, Senators King and Collins voted in favor of declassifying the Executive Summary of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report regarding the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) Detention and Interrogation Program. The report’s 500-page Executive Summary was declassified and released publically in December 2014.

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