CIA's scandalous "family jewels" revelations from the 1970s provide reminders that current debates over secret prisons, aggressive interrogations and

CIA Documents Foreshadow Controversies By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN, Associated Press Writer Wednesday, June 27, 2007 (06-27) 16:56 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --

The CIA's scandalous "family jewels" revelations from the 1970s provide reminders that current debates over secret prisons, aggressive interrogations and spying on Americans have a long history in this country.

CIA Director Michael Hayden said the newly released 693 heavily censored pages, in which CIA officers in 1973 reported possible abuses, provided "a glimpse of a very different era and a very different agency."

But the tactics cited in the CIA documents from the Cold War and the Vietnam War have counterparts in the ongoing disputes over intelligence tactics in the war on terror.
Consider the case of Soviet defector Yuri Nosenko, discussed in one bland paragraph of Tuesday's release.

Though he was no terrorist, his treatment by the CIA during 3 1/2 years of solitary confinement bears striking parallels to the current stories of secret CIA prisons overseas where terror suspects are held without charges or visitors for long periods while subjected to harsh interrogation, known to include "waterboarding," which produces the sensation of drowning. ...