Negroponte: Ruling Has Curtailed Interrogations

National Intelligence Director John D. Negroponte suggested that interrogations of suspected terrorists have been curtailed because of legal concerns raised by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the treatment of enemy combatants.

Negroponte, interviewed on "Fox News Sunday," declined to provide examples of CIA operatives holding back on questioning terrorism suspects because of the court's ruling in June that detainees merit the protections of the Geneva Conventions.

"There's been precious little activity of that kind for a number of months now," he said. Detainees "may be questioned, but using the kind of aggressive techniques, the tough techniques that the president was referring to the other day, may be kind of problematic because of the uncertainty introduced."

Negroponte defended President Bush's proposal for handling detainee interrogations and trials. It is being opposed by three key Senate Republicans who are pushing legislation that would give more legal protections to suspected terrorists than the administration wants.

One senator, John McCain (Ariz.), speaking on ABC's "This Week," said the United States must "hold the moral high ground" in the fight against terrorism by complying with the 1949 Geneva Conventions even if the terrorists do not. McCain, a prisoner of war in Vietnam, and fellow Republican Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) said adhering to high standards of treatment for prisoners will protect U.S. military personnel in the future.