government goon at the CIA takes the 5th when asked if the CIA tortures alleged terrorists and POWs Original Article CIA director mum on legality of interrogation techniques used in aftermath of 9/11 Douglas Jehl New York Times Mar. 18, 2005 12:00 AM WASHINGTON - Porter Goss, the director of Central Intelligence, said Thursday that he could not assure Congress that the CIA's methods of interrogating suspected terrorists since Sept. 11, 2001, had been legally permissible under federal laws prohibiting torture. Under sharp questioning at a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Goss sought to reassure lawmakers that all interrogations "at this time" are legal and that no methods currently in use constituted torture. But he declined, when asked, to make the same broad assertions about practices used over the past few years. "At this time, there are no 'techniques,' if I could say, that are being employed that are in any way against the law or would meet - would be considered torture or anything like that," Goss said in response to one question. When he was asked several minutes later whether he could say the same about techniques employed by the agency since the campaign against al-Qaida expanded in the aftermath of the 2001 attacks in the United States, he said, "I am not able to tell you that." He added that he might be able to elaborate after the committee went into closed session to take classified testimony. Goss' statements came closer than previous statements from the agency to an admission that at least some of its practices may have crossed the legal limits, and they had the effect of raising new questions about the CIA's conduct in detaining and questioning terror suspects, in what remains one of the most secretive areas of the government's efforts to combat terrorism. Goss acknowledged that there had been "some uncertainty" in the past among CIA officers about what interrogation techniques were specifically permitted and prohibited. A legal memorandum relaxing the limits on interrogation was issued in 2002 but repudiated by the administration in 2004. Goss said CIA employees have recently been "erring on the side of caution" in choosing what techniques to employ.