CIA chief admits waterboarding
Hayden says controversial interrogation technique was only used three times.
All three men were initially held and interrogated at secret CIA-run detention centres overseas before being transferred in 2006 to Guantanamo Bay.
‘Circumstances different’
“The circumstances are different than they were in late 2001, early 2002,” Hayden said.
Congress is considering banning the technique.
Hayden defended the use of coercive interrogation techniques as lawful and said he opposed moves by Congress to make the agency follow rules of interrogation set forth in the army field manual.
Michael Mukasey, the attorney-general, told Congress last week that the CIA no longer uses “waterboarding” and that it was not “currently” an authorised interrogation technique.
However, he refused to say whether waterboarding was torture.