In 2002, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) videotaped its officials administering harsh interrogation tactics on two al Qaeda operatives, but three years later, destroyed at least two videotapes documenting the incidents.  

The New York Times reports that one of the interrogations captured on tape was that of Abu Zubaydah, a high-level al Qaeda militant who was subjected to waterboarding.  

The Times adds that the videos "were destroyed in part because officers were concerned that tapes documenting controversial interrogation methods could expose agency officials to greater risk of legal jeopardy."

The destruction of the tapes occurred in the wake of the Abu Ghraib scandal and "CIA officers became concerned about a possible leak of the videos and photos." At the time, the CIA was led by Porter Goss. Current Director Michael Hayden defended the agency's actions, arguing that keeping them "posed a security risk."  

The revelation marks another legal and moral low for an administration that has rendered terrorism suspects to other countries to be tortured, argued for indefinite detention, signed off on secret torture memos, and committed potentially "grave breaches" of the Geneva Conventions.

"What matters here is that it was done in line with the law," Hayden said of the agency's tampering with evidence.  Legal experts aren't buying that argument. Jennifer Daskal, senior counsel with Human Rights Watch, said destroying the tapes was illegal. "Basically this is destruction of evidence," she said.

Daniel Marcus, a law professor at American University who served as general counsel for the 9/11 Commission, said if tapes were destroyed, "it's a big deal, it's a very big deal" because it could amount to obstruction of justice to withhold evidence being sought in criminal or fact-finding investigations.  

"The recordings were not provided to a federal court hearing the case of the terror suspect Zacarias Moussaoui," which had made formal requests to the CIA for such documentary evidence. The U.S. District Judge in the case, Leonie Brinkema, said she can no longer trust the CIA and other government agencies on how they represent classified evidence in terror cases.

The tapes also were not provided to the 9/11 Commission, whose members "demanded a wide array of material and relied heavily on classified interrogation transcripts in piecing together its narrative of events." The ACLU "said the tapes were destroyed at a time when a federal court had ordered the CIA to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request."

In his agency's defense, Hayden said: "The leaders of our oversight committees in Congress were informed of the videos years ago and of the Agency's intention to dispose of the material. Our oversight committees also have been told that the videos were, in fact, destroyed."  Hayden's statement didn't suggest that the congressional leaders approved of the destruction, however.

Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), who was ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee at the time, said, "I told the CIA that destroying videotapes of interrogations was a bad idea and urged them in writing not to do it." 

Then-ranking member of Senate Intelligence Committee John Rockefeller (D-WV) said, "While we were provided with very limited information about the existence of the tapes, we were not consulted on their usage nor the decision to destroy the tapes." Rockefeller does not deny, however, that he was informed of the agency's intent to dispose of the tapes, and he acknowledged that he learned of the destruction one year ago, in Nov. 2006.

An official with the House Intelligence Committee told the Times, "This is a matter that should have been briefed to the full Intelligence Committee at the time. This does not appear to have been done."  

The startling disclosures of the CIA's destruction of videotapes "came on the same day that House and Senate negotiators reached an agreement on legislation that would prohibit the use of waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics by the CIA and bring intelligence agencies in line with rules followed by the U.S. military." 

The measure, which needs approval from the full House and Senate, would require all American interrogators to abide by Army Field Manual. In doing so, the new law would "effectively set a government-wide standard for legal interrogations by explicitly outlawing the use of simulated drowning, forced nudity, hooding, military dogs and other harsh tactics against prisoners by any U.S. intelligence agency."  White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said such a provision "is something the president has opposed in the past and that we would have a veto threat on." 

In a sharp rebuke to White House counterterrorism policy, the Senate & House intelligence committees agreed last night to require all American interrogators to abide by the Army Field Manual, which prohibits coercive methods, effectively outlawing harsh techniques used by the CIA.