The State Department is increasing security at key posts around the world in anticipation of the release of a long-awaited and controversial Senate report about CIA interrogation practices following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The extra security measures are being instituted at strategic locations where the CIA ran secret prisons to interrogate suspected terrorists. The report concludes that certain practices constituted "torture," and that the CIA misled former President George W. Bush's administration and Congress about its activities
The Hill reported.
Officials are declining to name the specific U.S. embassies that will receive heightened security support, The Hill reported, but said they are anticipating the possibility that it could ignite a "tinder box" in the Middle East.
They are also concerned about the impact it could have on intelligence cooperation with foreign countries, though all the countries identified in the report are listed under pseudonyms.
It remains unclear when the report will be published as lawmakers and the administration are entangled in a dispute about the extent of redactions requested by the CIA and the White House.
"I have concluded that certain redactions eliminate or obscure key facts that support the report’s findings and conclusions," Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee,
said in a statement. "Until these redactions are addressed to the committee’s satisfaction, the report will not be made public."
The administration has requested that roughly 15 percent of the report be blacked out, citing national security concerns, according to The Hill.