Secretary of State John Kerry has asked the head of the US Senate Intelligence Committee to "consider" the timing of the expected release of a report on the CIA's harsh interrogation techniques.
The expected release of the report has raised concerns about potential backlash to Americans and US interests around the world.
The official said Kerry yesterday called Sen Dianne Feinstein to talk about the implications of publicly releasing her committee's report given the current tense situation in numerous world hotspots.
The official, however, said the administration's support for its release remained unchanged. The official was not authorized to discuss the private call by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.
A phone message and email to the Democrat's staff was not immediately returned.
The Senate Intelligence Committee is poised to release the first public accounting of the CIA's use of torture on al-Qaida detainees held in secret facilities in Europe and Asia in the years after the terrorist attacks of Sept 11, 2001.
A 480-page executive summary of 6,200-page report by Democrats on the committee, who spent six years reviewing millions of secret CIA documents, is expected to be made public within days.
According to many US officials who have read it, the document includes new details about the CIA's use of such techniques as sleep deprivation, confinement in small spaces, humiliation and the simulated drowning process known as waterboarding. President Barack Obama has acknowledged, "We tortured some folks."
But the report goes much further than to simply condemn the brutal methods, which Obama banned in 2009 and were repudiated by the three most recent CIA directors. It alleges that the harsh interrogations failed to produce unique and life-saving intelligence. And it asserts that the CIA systematically lied about the covert program to officials at the White House, the Justice Department and congressional oversight committees.
Spokeswoman Marie Harf said the State Department has "directed all of our posts overseas to review their security posture in light of ... A release of this report, to ensure that our personnel, our facilities and our interests are prepared for the range of reactions that might occur."
A senior defense official said the Pentagon will be warning military combatant commanders overseas that the torture report will be coming out and that they should assess their security situation.
