Summaries

Synopsis

Daniel J. Jones (Adam Driver) is a Senate staffer, selected by Senator Feinstein (Annette Bening) to lead an investigation into the 2005 destruction of CIA interrogation videotapes. With the conclusion of the two-year investigation and tabling of the report in 2007, Feinstein announced the launch of a second, larger investigation. Jones' small team of six, which includes April (Sarah Goldberg) and Julian (Lucas Dixon), begins work in early 2009 reviewing 6 million pages of CIA materials in a windowless office.

The narrative shifts back to 2001, introducing George Tenet (Dominic Fumusa), Bernadette (Maura Tierney) and Gretchen (Joanne Tucker) at the Counterterrorist Center (CTC), anxiously watching live videos of the September 11, 2001, attacks. At the CIA headquarters a few days later, Tenet reports on his meeting at Camp David with President George W. Bush and CTC director, Cofer Black (Ian Blackman). John Rizzo (Joseph Siravo), the CIA's legal counsel said that the President had given the CIA powers to "capture and detain suspected terrorists."

Jones finds evidence that this was the point when CIA decided to set up black ops prisons on foreign soil to hold suspected terrorists. The state department was specifically excluded in the decision-making process as Powell would have dis-agreed. As his investigation proceeds, the Republicans on the senate intelligence committee withdraw their support and the CIA issues a notification that no-one who actually worked on the interrogations program would talk to Jones and his Democrats team. They only have the files and Senator Feinstein's support.

When Abu Zubaydah (Zuhdi Boueri) was captured in 2002, the FBI and CIA were cooperating. FBI agent Ali Soufan is talking to Abu, and he is providing Intel, but the CIA is not happy that no CIA person is involved in interrogating Abu. The CIA hired two contractors, Bruce Jessen (T. Ryder Smith) and James Elmer Mitchell (Douglas Hodge), who developed so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques" (EITs) based on the Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape training given to American servicemen. Although both men are psychologists, their professional education and experience has nothing to do with interrogation. Jessen and Mitchell's clinical presentation of their techniques on PowerPoint slides contrasted with the actual torture being carried out at black sites. Jessen and Mitchell are present during the implementation of EITs-observing, commenting, and in some cases, actively participating. Bernadette is often present as a witness, at times, seeking justification for the CIA's use of torture.

The investigation shifted when Jones briefed Senator Feinstein in her office, providing the evidence from the CIA's own records, proving that the CIA knew Zubaydah was not a high-ranking member of Al-Qaeda, as they had falsely reported to the Department of Justice (DOJ). After the CIA told President Bush that Zubaydah was a key player, they received authorization in an August 2002 CIA memo to torture Zubaydah, making him the first detainee to be tortured.

Jones meets with FBI agent Ali Soufan (Fajer Al-Kaisi) (since he is FBI, there is no rule against him not speaking to Jones) and learns more about the CIA's interrogation program, particularly regarding Abu Zubaydah (Zuhdi Boueri). The interrogation of Abu Zubaydah is shown, contrasting the FBI's approach with the CIA's EITs. Bernadette is present as a witness. The FBI arrived at the Thailand black site before the CIA arrived. Soufan, who speaks both English and Arabic, said they kept Zubaydah alive and gathered crucial intelligence in the days before the CIA took over the interrogations. The CIA disagreed on techniques and results.

Raymond Nathan (Tim Blake Nelson), a physician assistant with the Office of Medical Services, secretly met with Jones and told him that he and others had wanted to leave the service because of the use of torture. He witnessed the waterboarding of Zubaydah, who almost drowned and was who lost consciousness during the procedure. Nathan said that they were told by Director Jose Rodriguez (Carlos Gomez) to not put their complaints in writing.

In a meeting with the Office of Legal Counsel, lawyer John Yoo explained the narrow re-definition of torture that permitted "enhanced interrogation techniques". In order for a technique to qualify as torture, it had to be far more brutal than the standard previously used by the CIA.Jones and April uncovered the story of Gul Rahman who died in his cell from hypothermia in 2002. Jones met with Feinstein and her staffer Marcy Morris (Linda Powell) to tell them about the Inspector General's report of the incident. The CIA had undertaken its own investigation into the death. Jones said that the National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice had been told to not inform the President about the redefinition of torture. President Bush only learned about this four years later in April 2006.

Jones finds the Panetta Review among the files provided by the CIA. The Panetta Review is an internal CIA review-prepared in 2009 but never shared-of its use of torture. While watching TV at a bar after work, April, Julian and Jones became discouraged as they watched a broadcast claiming that torture had yielded good intelligence and prevented terrorist attacks. Jones stays up all night to disprove the media claims; the CIA's own data showed it already had crucial information from Khalid Sheikh Mohammad (KSM) (Ratnesh Dubey) before subjecting him to torture. The next scene shows Jessen in March 2003, waterboarding Mohammad and threatening to hurt Mohammad's children as loud heavy metal music plays in the background. Mitchell complains that when tortured, Muhammad lies to avoid more torture. Mitchell wants to go easy on Mohammad for a while, then go in harder. Bernadette, who is witnessing from another room admits they have a problem. Gretchen decides that the torture will continue.

April announces that she would be taking a new job, discouraged by the lack of support for their research and her concern that the report might never be published. She said that the CIA knew in 1978 that torture did not work but they did it anyway.In response to the April 21, 2004, address to the United Nations by President Bush, in which he denounced the use of torture, Tenet, Bernadette, Mitchell, Jessen, Thomas Eastman, Jose Rodriguez, and John Rizzo met to discuss how they would respond. Jack Goldsmith, the OLC's new head, had repudiated and withdrew the Torture Memos. Mitchell gave an impassioned speech in defense of his methods and Rodriguez said he would have the program re-certified.

Feinstein decides to move ahead with the report in 2011, gets in approved in the Senate Intelligence Committee and sends it to CIA for final comments. CIA diverges with the report on key points, including conduct of officers, using not certified and untested torture techniques and the assertion that torture produced no actionable intelligence. Jones is adamant that CIA paid $80 MM to 2 untested psychologists to run their torture program. 119 people went through the program, not producing a single piece of info that the CIA already didn't have. Their own internal review indicated that CIA wanted their officers to focus on "rapport building" rather than torture going forward.

Senator Mark Udall (Scott Shepherd) confronts Caroline Krass (Jennifer Morrison) during the December 17, 2013, SSCI hearing, stating that he "was more confident than ever of the accuracy of the committee's 6,300 page study". The CIA's formerly secret Panetta Review was consistent with SSCI's report on CIA torture and conflicted with the CIA's official response. He used the original dialogue from the official transcript for that scene almost in its entirety. Jones had taken the Panetta review report from his office in the CIA basement and given it to Mark Udall to confront Krass at her confirmation hearing. CIA uses this to gain access to Jones's room and then accuse him of stealing the report by hacking their computer systems.

Jones seeks legal advice to challenge charges laid against him that he has "stolen" the CIA's Panetta Review files from their computer system. His lawyer, Cyrus Clifford (Corey Stoll) advises him that he does not have a legal problem, he has a "sunlight" or transparency problem. Jones meets with New York Times reporter (Matthew Rhys) and suggests he look into the CIA break-in and theft at the Senate Intelligence Committee's closed facilities. Jones is careful to provide the reporter with no details. When the Times article is published, Jones is called into a meeting with Morris and Senator Feinstein, who is visibly angry with him.

Jones's efforts bear fruit as it puts the spotlight on CIA's action in hacking the senate computers to obtain critical information. The Attorney General authorizes a full investigation into the agency's actions. CIA drops the lawsuit against Jones. Feinstein asks Jones to write a 400 summary. But the summary is also sent to the CIA for final comments. They black out large section of the summary citing classified information. Jones and Feinstein fight the CIA on their specific objections. Meanwhile Mark Udall loses his senate re-election from Colorado, a sure shot Democrat state. With that Feinstein is in minority on the Intelligence Committee and has a week left on the job.

Faced with unrelenting blocks to the report's publication, Jones met in an underground parking lot with the New York Times national security reporter, but ultimately decided he would work through official channels; he would not leak the report to the mediaFeinstein decides to release the report by reading it in the Senate. Republican John McCain breaks rank to support her. In 2015 President Obama banned EITs.