--- title: Mark Udall Outlines Secret CIA Torture Review On Senate Floor description: In what may be the last speech he gave as a senator, Sen. Mark Udall outlined findings from a still-secret internal review by the CIA. canonical: https://time.com/3628132/mark-udall-panetta-review-torture/ author: Alex Rogers article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-10T18:08:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-01T09:02:16.249Z article:section: Politics og:title: Mark Udall Outlines Secret CIA Torture Review On Senate Floor og:description: In what may be the last speech he gave as a senator, Sen. Mark Udall outlined findings from a still-secret internal review by the CIA. og:url: https://time.com/3628132/mark-udall-panetta-review-torture/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt382330163de8bacd/69876257f887dc65d6e87ad1/mark-udall2.jpg?branch=production&width=600&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 600 og:image:height: 338 og:image:alt: U.S. Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) speaks to supporters as he kicks off his 'Mark Your Ballot' bus tour on Oct. 15, 2014 in Denver. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mark Udall Outlines Secret CIA Torture Review On Senate Floor twitter:description: In what may be the last speech he gave as a senator, Sen. Mark Udall outlined findings from a still-secret internal review by the CIA. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt382330163de8bacd/69876257f887dc65d6e87ad1/mark-udall2.jpg?branch=production&width=600&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Mark Udall Outlines Secret CIA Torture Review on Senate Floor > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 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. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=c4b89aa1-bfc6-4d6c-85a1-564e02f3cad9&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Senator Udall on CIA Torture Report [Watch (HLS stream): Senator Udall on CIA Torture Report](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/GHdMU4fK.m3u8) (1:24)  _Published 2014-12-11. Senator Udall on CIA Torture Report_ by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Dec 10, 2014 6:08 PM UTC by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Dec 10, 2014 6:08 PM UTC Colorado Democratic Sen. Mark Udall outlined a secret internal review conducted by former CIA director Leon Panetta on the chamber floor Wednesday, as he delivered a blistering critique of the agency’s torture during the George W. Bush Administration and President Obama Administration’s subsequent efforts to protect the CIA from accountability. “In my view the Panetta Review is a smoking gun,” said Udall, who has pushed for access to the entire report as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. “One disturbing finding: \[CIA\] Director Brennan and the CIA are continuing to willfully provide inaccurate information and misrepresent the efficacy of torture. In other words, the CIA is lying.” Udall called again for Brennan to resign and blamed the White House for providing cover for the agency, calling for Obama to “purge” the CIA of high-level officials “instrumental” to the development of the enhanced interrogation program. “So while the study clearly shows that the CIA’s detention and interrogation program itself was deeply flawed, the deeper more endemic problem lies in a CIA assisted by a White House that continues to try to cover up the truth,” he said. Obama, he charged, has made “no effort” to “rein” Brennan in. He then made public what he said were some of the key points of the secret review, finding that the agency has lied to its “overseers and the public, destroyed and tried to hold back evidence, spied on the Senate, made false charges against our staff, and lied about torture and the results of torture” without proper accountability: --- > “” --- Udall’s remarks came a day after Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee released a summary of its five-year, 6,000-page report on the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques—that are no longer used—concluding that it was ineffective and brutal, if not at times illegal. The CIA has rebutted those charges. “Our review indicates that interrogations of detainees on whom EITs were used did produce intelligence that helped thwart attack plans, capture terrorists, and save lives,” said Brennan in a statement Tuesday. “The intelligence gained from the program was critical to our understanding of al-Qaeda and continues to inform our counterterrorism efforts to this day.” “We also disagree with the Study’s characterization of how CIA briefed the program to the Congress, various entities within the Executive Branch, and the public,” he added. “While we made mistakes, the record does not support the Study’s inference that the Agency systematically and intentionally misled each of these audiences on the effectiveness of the program.” Udall’s speech is likely the last of his career. He was defeated by Republican Rep. Cory Gardner last month. ## Transcript The White House has played a central role from the start. If former CIA director Panetta's memoir is to be believed, the President was unhappy about director Panetta's initial agreement with the committee in 2009 to allow staff access to operational cables and other sensitive documents about the torture program. In assuming its accuracy, Mr. Penera's account describes then- Counter Terrorism Advisor, John Brennan,, and current Chief of Staff, Dennis McDunna, both who have been involved deeply in the study redaction process, as also being unhappy about this expanded oversight There are more questions that need answers about the role of the White House in the committee's study. For example, there are the 9, 400 documents that were withheld from the committee by the White House in the course of the review of the millions of documents. Despite the fact that these documents are directly responsive to the committee's document request. The White House has never made a formal claim of executive privilege over the documents yet it has failed to respond to the chairman's request for the documents or to compromise proposal she has offered to review a summary listing of them. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3628132/mark-udall-panetta-review-torture/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3628132/mark-udall-panetta-review-torture/"},"headline":"Mark Udall Outlines Secret CIA Torture Review on Senate Floor","datePublished":"2014-12-10T18:08:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-01T09:02:16.249Z","description":"In what may be the last speech he gave as a senator, Sen. 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