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U.S. braces for torture report blowback

The Obama administration is bracing for the potential of a violent backlash against U.S. military personnel, diplomats and even allied governments when a declassified version of a Senate report on Bush-era interrogation policies is released in the next few months, according to court filings and American officials.

Justice Department lawyers responding to a lawsuit seeking documents from a Central Intelligence Agency review of aspects of the interrogation program said Thursday that a response to the suit must await not only the declassification of a summary of the Senate report, but also planning to deal with potential fallout from that release.

"Even after the declassification review is complete, and prior to release of any declassified information related to the former [rendition, detention and interrogation] program, the Administration will have to take a number of security steps to protect U.S. personnel and facilities overseas," Justice Department attorney Vesper Mei wrote in response to the suit filed by independent journalist Jason Leopold. "Allowing the Agency and the Administration sufficient time to complete this process is thus crucial."

(Earlier on POLITICO: Dems antsy over CIA report)

A senior administration official told POLITICO Thursday that while officials have decided they need to take precautions before the report is released, they have not yet embarked on detailed planning about what steps should be taken.

"Once we are close to the declassification review being complete, one of the steps we're going to have to take before the release of whatever the final product is is to prepare our personnel overseas for this release and the potential violence," the official said. "That would include not only talking to our people overseas, but there would alsocertainly be a diplomatic outreach component to prepare countries for the kinds of info that could be released.... Countries that may have cooperated with us they will want to know what we're releasing."

It's unclear whether the administration is contemplating officially naming the countries that acted as transit points or so-called "black sites" for the CIA program, although many of them have been identified by journalists and human rights activists.

(From POLITICO Magazine: Abu Ghraib's Ghosts)

In a speech in March, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) indicated the CIA was most sensitive about two categories of information in files related to the interrogation program: "the true names of non-supervisory CIA personnel and the names of specific countries in which the CIA operated detention sites."

Feinstein went on to indicate that information isn't in the Senate report, so it seems unlikely to emerge directly from a declassification of that report, although site-specific information could theoretically make it into a CIA response.

Even if the administration decides not to name the U.S. allies, release of a report detailing the authorized and unauthorized techniques used—ranging from waterboarding to threatening prisoners with execution or with an electric drill—could prompt anger at and in countries believed to be involved.

The administration official said the danger of violence against Americans abroad, American facilities like military bases and embassies, as well as U.S. allies, was taken into account before President Barack Obama publicly declared his support for declassifying the executive summary of the Senate report, along with a CIA rebuttal.

"Certainly, this is something that was thought of when we finally came to our position about whether or not this report should be released," the official added. "The president's view is the need for transparency and the need for accountability utweigh the concerns about security, or we feel we can take steps to limit that....But it's really important how this is redacted."

(Earlier on POLITICO: Liz Cheney defends dad on torture)

Obama's decision to proceed with release of the interrogation report despite the threat of violent retaliation is notable since earlier in his presidency he reached just the opposite conclusion about photos of abuses of prisoners in U.S. military custody in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Just a few months into Obama's first term, his administration decided not to appeal a court ruling that the photos had to be released in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. However, after hearing pleas from Gen. Ray Odierno, Obama reversed course and resumed the fight to keep the pictures. He ultimately signed legislation that granted the administration power to withhold the photos for a renewable three-year period.

Obama said he concluded that release of the photos wouldn't "add any additional benefit" to public understanding of the abuse of detainees, but would put U.S. personnel overseas at greater risk for retaliation. Critics said it was not the photos that put American soldiers and diplomats at risk, but rather the abuse itself.

Feinstein told NPR Wednesday that White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough told her the declassification process for the Senate report would likely not be complete until July. The Justice Department said in a court filing Thursday that the CIA "hopes" the process "can be completed this summer."

UPDATE, Thursday (6:16 P.M.): This post has been updated with details on the projected timing of the Senate report's release.

UPDATE 2, Friday (3:13 P.M.): This post has been updated to clarify that the Senate report does not name foreign countries involved in the interrogation program.