--- title: Torture Report: Here's What Dianne Feinstein Said in Senate Speech description: In releasing a report on the CIA's interrogation programs, Sen. Dianne Feinstein called it a "stain on our values and on our history." canonical: https://time.com/3625560/torture-report-heres-what-dianne-feinstein-said/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-09T17:08:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:47:30.681Z article:section: Politics og:title: Torture Report: Here's What Dianne Feinstein Said in Senate Speech og:description: In releasing a report on the CIA's interrogation programs, Sen. Dianne Feinstein called it a "stain on our values and on our history." og:url: https://time.com/3625560/torture-report-heres-what-dianne-feinstein-said/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt494afdda9e5cf572/69876cf2f887dc2164e88d3c/482322563.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4500 og:image:height: 2531 og:image:alt: Senator Dianne Feinstein speaks to the media after a closed meeting of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill April 3, 2014 in Washington, DC. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Torture Report: Here's What Dianne Feinstein Said in Senate Speech twitter:description: In releasing a report on the CIA's interrogation programs, Sen. Dianne Feinstein called it a "stain on our values and on our history." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt494afdda9e5cf572/69876cf2f887dc2164e88d3c/482322563.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's What Dianne Feinstein Said About the Torture Report > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. 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It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Dec 9, 2014 5:08 PM UTC  Senator Dianne Feinstein speaks to the media after a closed meeting of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill April 3, 2014 in Washington, DC. Senator Dianne Feinstein speaks to the media after a closed meeting of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill April 3, 2014 in Washington, DC. Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Dec 9, 2014 5:08 PM UTC Sen. Dianne Feinstein called the practices detailed in the [declassified report](http://www.intelligence.senate.gov/study2014/sscistudy1.pdf) on the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation program a “stain on our values and on our history.” The California Democrat spoke passionately on the Senate floor Tuesday morning as the 600-page report detailing the CIA’s post 9/11-era detainee practices, including torture was released. The critical [report](http://time.com/3625453/torture-report-senate-cia-interrogation/) finds that the CIA’s use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” including waterboarding, which the UN says should be classified as torture, and sleep deprivation was “not an effective means of acquiring intelligence or gaining cooperation from detainees.” The report also found that the CIA’s detention sites were poor and the agency provided inaccurate information about the program to the federal government. “The implications of this report are profound,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) said Tuesday, speaking on the Senate floor. “Not only is torture wrong, but it doesn’t work.” The Senate Intelligence Committee has faced an uphill battle to release parts of the report, which runs about 6,000 pages in total. Senate Democrats and the CIA have gone back and forth about how much of the report should be released. At one point, Sen. Feinstein accused the CIA of spying on committee members working to declassify documents. In July, CIA Director John Brennan apologized for the spying. The Pentagon announced last week they had begun warning combat troops to prepare for any backlash from the report. NBC News reported Monday that about 2,000 Marines are on alert in and around the Persian Gulf and Mediterranean Sea. On Tuesday, Sen. Feinstein said she had gone back and forth over whether the committee should delay the release of the report given the instability across many parts of the world. ”There may never be a right time to release the report,”Feinstein said, but she added that the report is “too important to shelve indefinitely.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3625560/torture-report-heres-what-dianne-feinstein-said/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3625560/torture-report-heres-what-dianne-feinstein-said/"},"headline":"Here's What Dianne Feinstein Said About the Torture Report","datePublished":"2014-12-09T17:08:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:47:30.681Z","description":"The California Democrat began speaking at length about the report's release Tuesday morning","url":"https://time.com/3625560/torture-report-heres-what-dianne-feinstein-said/","keywords":["intelligence","torture","National Security","Senate Torture Report","Torture Report"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt494afdda9e5cf572/69876cf2f887dc2164e88d3c/482322563.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt494afdda9e5cf572/69876cf2f887dc2164e88d3c/482322563.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Senator Dianne Feinstein speaks to the media after a closed meeting of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill April 3, 2014 in Washington, DC.","caption":"Senator Dianne Feinstein speaks to the media after a closed meeting of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill April 3, 2014 in Washington, DC.","creditText":"Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/intelligence/","name":"intelligence"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3625560/torture-report-heres-what-dianne-feinstein-said/","name":"Here's What Dianne Feinstein Said About the Torture Report"}}]}] ```