sheldon whitehouse torture videotapes letter_redacted
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“Classification of information is designed to protect the national security of the United States, not to be used as a shield to protect the government from embarrassment.” So wrote Senator Sheldon Whitehouse in a September 25, 2008 letter to then-Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell expressing frustration over the CIA’s refusal to declassify four passages related to the agency’s destruction of interrogation videotapes.