Panetta faces questions on terror, torture

President Obama's pick to head the CIA on Thursday found himself in the crossfire of political and policy differences between Democrats and Republicans on controversial intelligence matters.

Members of the Senate Intelligence Committee peppered Leon Panetta during his confirmation hearing with questions on issues that have sharply divided lawmakers along party lines. That included whether intelligence officials should be prosecuted for conducting coercive interrogations of terrorism suspects and how practical it would be to close the military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Panetta said he believes that waterboarding, or choking detainees with water, is torture. The U.S. government has admitted subjecting three detainees to waterboarding.

But Panetta said intelligence officials should not be investigated or prosecuted for conducting coercive interrogation practices if they were following what they believed to be legitimate legal opinions provided by the Justice Department during the Bush administration.

He added, however, that if officials deliberately violated the law, then "obviously in those limited cases there should be prosecutions."

On another matter, Panetta said he would not speculate on what should be done with prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay when the detention facility is closed within a year, as Obama ordered on Jan. 22. Panetta added that some prisoners would likely need to be held somewhere indefinitely.

Some Republicans have criticized Obama's decision to close the Guantanamo detention facility and are mounting stiff opposition to bringing prisoners to U.S. jails.

Panetta pledged to never send terrorism suspects to other countries for custody if it would be likely that they would be tortured there. Critics say these extraordinary renditions were carried out by the Bush administration.

But when pressed by Intelligence ranking member Christopher (Kit) Bond, R-Mo., Panetta said he did not have any evidence that prisoners were sent to places by the Bush administration where they were tortured.

Bond noted that renditions were conducted during the Clinton administration, including the period when Panetta served as White House chief of staff. Panetta said he would not rule out renditions but added that they would abide by the law and be aimed at returning individuals to countries so they can face legal proceedings.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., asked Panetta if anyone in the Obama administration would be soft on going after terrorists. Rockefeller's question alluded to recent comments by former Vice President Dick Cheney, without naming Cheney.

Panetta disputed Cheney's comments. "I am absolutely convinced that we can protect this country; we can get the information we need; we can provide security for the American people and we can abide by the law," he said.

Addressing another concern, Panetta did not rule out the possibility of using private contractors to help conduct interrogations. But he indicated that contractors would only be used in special circumstances, such as for language translation help.

Panetta also said one of his biggest challenges as CIA chief would be to achieve better intelligence related to Russia, China and Africa. He said it would be especially important to understand how the global economic crisis was affecting those potential hot spots.