Days after U.S. Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) took the helm as chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee early this year, he moved to bury his committee’s 6,900-page report on the CIA torture program.<\/p>\n
In his first major act as the nation\u2019s top watchdog over the spy agency, Burr chose to protect the CIA by demanding that the White House return every copy of the full report shared with the executive branch by the previous Congress.<\/p>\n
Tell Sen. Burr to stop hiding the truth from us.\u00a0 The people of North Carolina and the U.S. want an Intelligence Chair who will serve the public interest, not one who covers up for spy agencies.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The summary of the Senate report revealed appalling details of the U.S. government\u2019s systematic use of torture. \u00a0It catalogued numerous grave and plainly illegal abuses, many of which were authorized by the highest officials in the George W. Bush administration.\u00a0 It also described the CIA\u2019s evasions and misrepresentations about its torture program to Congress, the White House, the media, and the American public.<\/p>\n However, the 525-page summary does not contain the entire story of CIA torture. The full 6,900-page report may shed light on the role of front companies and contractors in the torture program \u2013 for example, Aero Contractors, which provided aircraft and flight crews to launch rendition flights from a state-owned facility in Kinston, N.C. and the company\u2019s headquarters in Johnston County, N.C.<\/p>\n As an elected official of the state, Sen. Burr has a particular responsibility to let the people of North Carolina know what crimes were conducted in their name.<\/p>\n