By Sabrina Merold ’13, Staff Writer

Until watching 60 Minutes one recent Sunday evening, I knew little about Jose Rodriguez, the former chief of all human intelligence gathering conducted by the U.S. government. From 2004 to 2007, Jose Rodriguez served as the Deputy Director of Operations for the Central Intelligence Agency. Last month, he came back into the spotlight by publishing a book, Hard Measures, in which he argues that the aggressive CIA actions after 9/11 saved lives. In this recent interview, Rodriguez firmly stated that he had no regrets about using the “enhanced interrogation techniques” on al Qaeda detainees questioned after 9/11.

At first, when Rodriguez described these “enhanced interrogation techniques,” including waterboarding, sleep deprivation, slapping, stress positions, and light control, it was hard not to question whether many of these techniques were torture and a violation of human rights. However, when Rodriguez then said that these techniques were used upon Khalid Sheik Mohammed, one of the masterminds of 9/11, he put them into a different light. Rodriguez believes, “We made some al Qaeda terrorists with American blood on their hands uncomfortable for a few days” and “I am very secure in what we did and am very confident that what we did saved American lives.”  This interview probed deeply into the techniques used by the CIA and really explored the question of whether or not the supposed derivation of valuable information justified the means used to obtain that information.

Talking to many students at Newark Academy, there seemed to be a divide between whether the techniques were justified to some extent or whether they were a violation of basic human rights. Rachel Greene ’13, who is currently studying at the School for Ethics and Global Leadership in Washington, D.C., feels that in the case of Guantanamo Bay, “enhanced interrogation techniques are appropriate if they are properly monitored, but torture, as defined by the Geneva Convention, should be outlawed.” Cynthia Yang ’13 was less supportive, saying “the idea of an eye for an eye seems so backwards these days. It is more ethical to have the convicts contained in a jail cell.”

In 2009, both President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder repudiated the use of these enhanced interrogation techniques and clearly stated that they are forms of torture. The main problem is that even though all the techniques used by the CIA were documented, in 2005 Rodriguez ordered the videotapes of two 2002 CIA interrogations to be destroyed. Because of this, it is hard to actually know how well those techniques were properly monitored and what exactly occurred at the “black sites,” or the spots where the prisoners were interrogated. This information would give more insight into the debate of whether these techniques were forms of torture. In the end, the question really boils down to how far one personally believes the CIA has the freedom to go to protect our country.