Source: Wall Street Journal

WASHINGTON -- Congressional leaders were briefed in detail about techniques used in the Central Intelligence Agency's interrogation program, according to a new intelligence document.

The document appears to conflict with recent statements from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was then the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee. Ms. Pelosi has said she hadn't been told that the CIA was using the technique known as waterboarding, or simulated drowning. According to the document, Ms. Pelosi was one of the first lawmakers briefed on the interrogations in 2002.

Ms. Pelosi's spokesman Thursday reiterated the speaker's earlier contention that she was told in the briefing that waterboarding had been authorized but not yet used.

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CIA Director Leon Panetta said the agency compiled the document -- based on the files and meeting summaries written at the time that represented the best recollections of the briefers -- in response to requests from Republican lawmakers, including the top Republican on the intelligence panel.

Republicans have argued Congress was informed early-on about the CIA program and had an opportunity then to object, a contention designed to counter criticism of the Bush-era program from the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress.

The release coincides with a debate over terrorism matters, with Republicans accusing President Barack Obama of leaving the country vulnerable to a terrorist attack and Democrats calling for a commission to investigate the Bush administration's controversial counter-terrorism programs.

The document lists 40 briefings provided to lawmakers on intelligence, judiciary and other panels, the first of which was provided to then-House intelligence committee chairman Porter Goss, a Florida Republican, and Ms. Pelosi of California on Sept. 4, 2002. That briefing is described as covering "enhanced interrogation techniques." It included the use of the techniques on detainee Abu Zubaydah, background on legal authority, and "a description of the particular [enhanced interrogation techniques] that had been employed."

A recently declassified Justice Department memo on the CIA program dated May 30, 2005, states the CIA used waterboarding to interrogate Mr. Zubaydah "at least 83 times during August 2002."

Ms. Pelosi's spokesman Brendan Daly said of the September 2002 briefing, "The briefers described these techniques, said they were legal, but said that waterboarding had not yet been used."

On April 23, Ms. Pelosi told reporters "we were not, and I repeat, were not told that waterboarding or any of these other enhanced interrogation techniques were used." Rather, she said, she recalled being told by the CIA that the techniques "could be used, but not that they would."

A number of lawmakers have been calling for a full accounting of the briefings provided to Congress. Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan, the top Republican on the House intelligence committee, wrote to Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair on April 20 and April 24, requesting a full list of the dates, locations, and names of all members of Congress who attended briefings on the CIA's interrogation program.

A letter from the CIA's Mr. Panetta to Democratic Rep. Mike Thompson of California, a member of the House intelligence committee who made a similar request, said: "In the end, you and the Committee will have to determine whether this information is an accurate summary of what actually happened."

Write to Siobhan Gorman at siobhan.gorman@wsj.com

Corrections & Amplifications

Mike Thompson is a Democrat. A previous version of this article incorrectly referred to him as a Republican.