Moment of Reckoning

"Hagel said it defied logic that senior White House officials would not have been informed of the CIA's intention to destroy the tapes. If they were not, he said, it would indicate 'gross malfeasance and incompetency.'

"'It's hard for me to believe that senior members of the White House somehow didn't pay attention to this or didn't know about it,' Hagel said. 'Maybe they're so incompetent' that they missed it."

Josh White wrote in Sunday's Washington Post: "The Justice Department and the CIA announced yesterday that they have started a preliminary inquiry into the CIA's 2005 destruction of videotapes that depicted harsh interrogation of two terrorism suspects.

"The announcement follows congressional demands Friday for an investigation into the CIA's action despite warnings from the White House and congressional leaders to preserve the tapes."

Mark Mazzetti wrote in Saturday's New York Times that, according to two government officials, Scott W. Muller, then the agency's general counsel "raised the idea of destroying the tapes during discussions in 2003 with Justice Department lawyers and with Harriet E. Miers, who was then a deputy White House chief of staff. Ms. Miers became White House counsel in early 2005.

"The officials said that Ms. Miers and the Justice Department lawyers had advised against destroying the tapes, but that it was not clear what the basis for their advice had been. . . .

"It was also not clear when the White House or Justice Department were told that the tapes had been destroyed, or whether anyone at either place was notified in advance that Mr. Rodriguez had ordered that the step be taken."

Opinion Watch

The Washington Post editorial board writes: "When it destroyed at least two videotapes of the interrogation of captured al-Qaeda operatives, the Central Intelligence Agency may have eliminated evidence of criminal activity. . . .

"CIA Director Michael V. Hayden's assertion that the tapes were purged because of concerns they would leak and be used by al-Qaeda to track down interrogators is not credible. The CIA is skilled at keeping secrets and protecting agents without destroying valuable material. It is far more plausible that CIA officials eliminated evidence that could have been used to hold interrogators accountable for illegal acts of torture -- as well as the more senior administration officials who ordered or approved those acts."

The USA Today editorial board writes: "The reason CIA Director Michael Hayden cited for the agency's decision -- to protect operatives' identities -- seems dubious at best. The CIA has all manner of records that identify officers and doesn't destroy them. . . .

"Had there been no torture, there would have been no need to destroy the tapes."

Bob Schieffer, in his commentary on CBS's "Face the Nation" mulls the "CIA's use of what our own Army and the Geneva Conventions define as torture, and how officials destroyed evidence when a federal judge demanded tapes of the interrogation episodes."