On May 13, a Senate Judiciary subcommittee led by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) held a hearing on the treatment of terrorist suspects in the custody of U.S. government personnel. The hearing was the first to formally discuss torture after the release of four key Bush administration memoranda that established broader interrogation policies. The hearing prompted the Justice Department to release two additional documents concerning internal Bush administration deliberations over policy.

The four Bush-era torture memos recently released by the Justice Department and authored by the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) framed much of the hearing’s discussion. Whitehouse stated during the hearing, "We were told that waterboarding was determined to be legal, but were not told how badly the law was ignored, bastardized and manipulated by the [OLC] nor were we told how furiously government and military lawyers rejected the defective OLC opinions." The memos authored between 2001-03 and released by the OLC on April 16 gave President George W. Bush exclusive authority over detainees and restricted Fourth Amendment rights.

The Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts heard testimony in an attempt to better understand the development of Bush administration policies on the treatment of suspected terrorists who were detained by American forces. Testimony demonstrated the negative impact of torture on national security and the reaction of several agencies to the memos shortly after they were written. The record seems to show that high-level officials dissented against OLC interrogation policies but were quieted by the Defense and Justice Departments.

Ali Soufan, a key witness and former FBI agent, testified that the Bush administration’s policy allowing allegedly unlawful interrogation methods impaired intelligence gathering. Soufan stated that the more aggressive tactics were "ineffective, slow and unreliable, and as a result harmful to our efforts to defeat al-Qaida." Soufan cited the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah in March 2002 as an example. Soufan, who was present for the questioning, recounted that FBI methods aimed at establishing a rapport with Zubaydah quickly led to actionable intelligence. However, when the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) stepped in, according to Soufan, and used harsh techniques, Zubaydah stopped talking. The Bush administration had argued that Zubaydah stopped talking because he was trained to resist interrogation methods.

Philip Zelikow, formerly a counselor for the Bush State Department, testified concerning his attempts in 2005-06 to prohibit "cruel, inhuman, and degrading" interrogation methods. Zelikow mentioned two documents not previously published. In these 2005 documents, Zelikow proposed the creation of an alternative legal framework that would secure standardization of interrogation policy on a level at or above those of coalition partners and define "humane treatment." Zelikow had argued that American handling of detainees under OLC memos was not in compliance with Geneva standards (and thus U.S. law) and made specific recommendations to establish military commissions. While well received by State Department Secretary Condoleezza Rice, Zelikow’s position was outright rejected by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Zelikow went on to report that orders were given for his memos to be collected and destroyed. Despite the order, the State Department has retrieved the documents and is currently reviewing them for possible declassification.

Although Congress has set out on a fact-finding mission to uncover the truth behind past American torture practices, the Obama administration seems to be moving in the opposite direction. Although the administration moved to release the OLC memos in an effort toward transparency, it has refused to hold accountable those who created and carried out these policies. The president also went back on previous statements that he would release photographs of detainees tortured while in U.S. custody, stating that to do so "can serve no public good."