CIA chief admits some interrogation techniques were "abhorrent"

ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)

STORY: The head of the CIA on Thursday (December 11) said that some of the intelligence agency's interrogation techniques were "abhorrent" but otherwise defended the CIA against portions of a scathing U.S. Senate report on the use of torture at the CIA.

"In a limited number of cases, agency officers used interrogation techniques that had not been authorized, were abhorrent, and rightly should be repudiated by all," Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan told reporters at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

It was the first public comment from Brennan on the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee report that says the agency's interrogation of al Qaeda terrorism suspects in secret prisons was more brutal than policymakers were told and in some cases amounted to torture that failed to generate effective intelligence.

The techniques were put into place during the Bush administration following the attacks of September 11, 2