POHANG, SOUTH KOREA - MARCH 29:  U.S. Marine soldiers from 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, Battalion landing team deployed from Okinawa, Japan, participate in the U.S. and South Korean Marines joint landing operation at Pohang seashore on March 29, 2012 in Pohang, South Korea. Though South Korean has remained technically at war with North Korea since the end of the Korean War in 1953, the tension of Korean Peninsula has again raised as Pyongyang's new leader Kim Jong-Eun administration announced to launch a 'Satellite' between April 12 to 16.  (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)
Sen. King: Torture 'not who we are'
00:49 - Source: CNN

Story highlights

The Senate Intelligence Committee is releasing its torture report Tuesday

Angus King, a Maine independent Senator, is on the committee

King is expected to speak on the Senate floor after the report's release at 11 a.m.

Washington CNN  — 

The Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation” techniques to be released Tuesday concludes that the CIA tortured detainees and that torture did not yield actionable intelligence, Sen. Angus King said Tuesday.

“Did we torture people? Yes. Did it work? No,” King, a Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats, said on CNN’s “New Day”.

King, who is a member of the committee, called the extensive report “chilling” and said it will show the world that the U.S. is repudiating those practices used in the post-9/11 era under President George W. Bush’s tenure.

“This is not America. This is not who we are,” King said. “What was done diminished our stature and enflamed [Islamist extremists], terrorists around the world.”

The report is being released over cries from other lawmakers and intelligence officials who say the report could endanger American personnel abroad.

RELATED: Hagel on torture report release: ‘We want to be prepared’

King acknowledged those risks and said the decision to release the report was “not an easy” one. But King said releasing the report is key to ensuring the U.S. government is never again involved in torture.

“It’s important to take this step to say who we are and that we’re not going to be doing this again,” King said.

President Barack Obama signed an executive order when he came into office in 2009 officially barring U.S. officials from using torture practices, such as waterboarding, that were called “enhanced interrogation” techniques under the Bush administration.

King noted that that executive order could be reversed by a next President.

“History is important,” King said. “We want history to show, A, that this didn’t work out and, B, that it was really a stain on this country.”