--- title: Ex-CIA Chief: Dianne Feinstein Too 'Emotional' On Interrogations description: Michael Hayden questions the objectivity of a report which the Senate Intelligence Committee voted to make public this week, that reportedly accuses the CIA of inflating the effectiveness of 'enhanced' interrogation practices canonical: https://time.com/51063/hayden-feinstein-emotional-senate-cia/ author: TIME Video article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-04-06T18:08:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-01T08:52:32.600Z article:section: Politics og:title: Ex-CIA Chief: Dianne Feinstein Too 'Emotional' On Interrogations og:description: Michael Hayden questions the objectivity of a report which the Senate Intelligence Committee voted to make public this week, that reportedly accuses the CIA of inflating the effectiveness of 'enhanced' interrogation practices og:url: https://time.com/51063/hayden-feinstein-emotional-senate-cia/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc072d33c0246d3c2/6986893b169ab03bc7278a55/cia-michael-hayden.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: CIA Director General Michael Hayden speaks during his military retirement ceremony, on June 20, 2008 at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, D.C. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ex-CIA Chief: Dianne Feinstein Too 'Emotional' On Interrogations twitter:description: Michael Hayden questions the objectivity of a report which the Senate Intelligence Committee voted to make public this week, that reportedly accuses the CIA of inflating the effectiveness of 'enhanced' interrogation practices twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc072d33c0246d3c2/6986893b169ab03bc7278a55/cia-michael-hayden.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ex-CIA Chief: Feinstein Too 'Emotional' On Interrogations Report > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. 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. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=5f4cb4b2-6024-4f74-a4b9-38d6ce135c8a&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Former CIA Chief: Senate Report Influenced by 'Emotional' Feinstein [Watch (HLS stream): Former CIA Chief: Senate Report Influenced by 'Emotional' Feinstein](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/qWKQYQNd.m3u8) (1:02)  _Published 2014-04-06. Michael Hayden, the former CIA director, tells Fox News Sunday he doubts the objectivity of a Senate report detailing CIA interrogation tactics._ by [TIME Video](https://time.com/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Apr 6, 2014 6:08 PM UTC by [TIME Video](https://time.com/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Apr 6, 2014 6:08 PM UTC Michael Hayden, the former CIA and National Security Agency director, told _Fox News Sunday_ he doubts the objectivity of a Senate report detailing CIA interrogation tactics. The motivations of Senate Intelligence Committee chairwoman Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) for compiling the report on the CIA’s interrogation and detention practices “may show deep, emotional feeling on the part of the senator,” he said, “but I don’t think it leads you to an objective report.” The Senate Intelligence Committee voted on Thursday to declassify key elements of its report this week, which reportedly concludes that the CIA inflated the effectiveness of its “enhanced” interrogation practices, misleading the Justice Department, Congress and the public. The report was at the center of a rift between the CIA and Senate investigators, after Feinstein accused the agency of spying on Senate computers used to compile the investigation. The CIA, in turn, said investigators illegally accessed internal documents. ## Transcript The former CIA Director, Micheal Hayden, defended the agencies methods Sunday, saying the Senate report detailing CIA abuse might have been unfairly influenced by Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein. That motivation for the report Chris, may show deep emotional feeling on the part of the Senator, but I don't think it leads you to an objective report. Feinstein is the Chairwomen of the panel behind the report. The Senate Intelligence Committee. The report claims the CIA overstated the usefulness of it's so called, harsh interrogation. The committee voted last week to make key parts of this report public and house democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said Sunday the controversial methods documented in the report could be traced back to **** Chaney. Yeah I do believe that it, during the Bush Chaney administration the Vice President Cheney set a tone and an attitude for the CIA. [ CROSSTALK ] I think he's proud of it. I think he's proud of it. For his part, the former Vice President Cheney has repeatedly defended the CIA and the interrogation tactics it used, saying he'd do it all over again and that the results speak for themselves. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/51063/hayden-feinstein-emotional-senate-cia/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/51063/hayden-feinstein-emotional-senate-cia/"},"headline":"Ex-CIA Chief: Feinstein Too 'Emotional' On Interrogations Report","datePublished":"2014-04-06T18:08:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-01T08:52:32.600Z","description":"Michael Hayden questions the objectivity of a report which the Senate Intelligence Committee voted to make public this week, that reportedly accuses the CIA of inflating the effectiveness of 'enhanced' interrogation practices","url":"https://time.com/51063/hayden-feinstein-emotional-senate-cia/","keywords":["CIA","Senate","Dianne Feinstein"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc072d33c0246d3c2/6986893b169ab03bc7278a55/cia-michael-hayden.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Video","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-video/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc072d33c0246d3c2/6986893b169ab03bc7278a55/cia-michael-hayden.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"CIA Director General Michael Hayden speaks during his military retirement ceremony, on June 20, 2008 at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, D.C.","caption":"CIA Director General Michael Hayden speaks during his military retirement ceremony, on June 20, 2008 at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, D.C.","creditText":"William B. 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