Document suggests CIA did not inform State Department, Secretary of State about torture "black sites" abroad

A document accidentally emailed to a reporter from the White House suggests that the Central Intelligence Agency purposely kept some of the highest-ranking members in the State Department in the dark about the use of torture techniques in locations overseas.

The document in question is still classified, though it was accidentally emailed to a reporter at The Associated Press. The document is based off of a 6,300-page report compiled by the United States Senate Intelligence Committee, which is responsible for the oversight of U.S. intelligence agencies like the CIA and National Security Agency.

The purpose of the document seems to be the possible talking points that the State Department should use in response to the upcoming release of a summary of the Intelligence Committee report.

The document says that CIA officials pressured ambassadors and other State Department officials who were informed about the CIA use of "black sites," not to tell their superiors about what was going on. This suggests that even as the CIA was transferring al-Qaida detainees from Afghanistan to black sites around the world, Secretary of State Colin Powell was not at first in the loop on such matters.

Black sites refer to locations where CIA operatives interrogated and often tortured detainees. Their location abroad meant that they were not under the legal jurisdiction of the U.S. government, in an effort to avoid the possible legal ramifications of their questionable actions.

The document also reveals how the State Department is concerned information about these black sites and their efficacy will be viewed through out the rest of the world. For example, the report concludes that torture did not produce intelligence that would have saved lives.

Because of this conclusion, the document says the State Department would like to strongly condemn the CIA's actions. This would help the State Department save face abroad by establishing its independence from the U.S. intelligence community.