CIA report - as it happened

Today's damning report was from the Democratic members who make up a majority on the Senate intelligence committee. But the minority Republicans have also published their own findings, in which they attack the "strongly held biases" of the main report.

The Huffington Post has picked out what it says are the "most horrific details" from the Senate report, including one detainee who died from hypothermia and an interrogation that used a power drill.

George Tenet, who was CIA director during 9/11, says the interrogation programme led to the capture of al-Qaeda leaders and "saved thousands of American lives". He told Associated Press the report failed to appreciate the fear at the time that more attacks were on the way. "It was a ticking time bomb every day," he said.

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New York Times reporter Farhad Manjoo tweets: "The investigation completely rejects the Zero Dark Thirty scenario that torture of the courier led to Osama bin Laden"

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The Senate report highlights the treatment of several detainees but three key suspects stand out. Here is a rundown of who they were and what happened to them.

The report also includes what is effectively a resignation email from the CIA chief of interrogations, because of the programme.

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tweets: #TortureReport cost $40m to produce - half what CIA paid survival-school psychologists to craft interrogation policy

The report says President George W Bush did not want to know where the interrogation sites were, in case he accidentally disclosed them. On Sunday, he told CNN that CIA staff were "patriots" and the report was "way off base".

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The New York Times has done an interactive timeline of how the interrogation programme developed and who was briefed when.

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Glenn Carle, former CIA agent, tells the BBC it's important for the US to "recognise its mistakes".

The CIA has challenged the report findings twice today - once in a statement by CIA director John Brennan and also in a Wall Street Journal column written by former officials.

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The report says detainees were humiliated by undergoing painful procedures and told they would only escape CIA custody in a coffin.

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@aseitzwald tweets: "The psychologists formed a company and were paid $80 million by the CIA, the report found."

The Senate report notes the CIA did not know how many people it had imprisoned, and did not appear to correctly count detainees in a 2008 review.

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@igeldard tweets: Should remember that #CIA spied on US Senate staff in part to block report release & destroyed videos of interrogations

Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz (below) has said the CIA report will not lead to a worsening of the country's relations with the US. Prosecutors in Poland have been investigating allegations that the country hosted a CIA black site since 2008. The investigation is ongoing, secret, and has yet to publish any findings.

In July the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Poland had violated the rights of two al-Qaeda suspects, Abd al-Rashim al-Nashiri and Abu Zubaydah when it allowed the CIA to detain, interrogate and torture them in a secret centre in Poland. The Polish government is appealing against the ruling.

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"After 9/11 there were things that happened that were wrong - and we should be clear about the fact they were wrong," says UK Prime Minister David Cameron, when asked about the report during a press conference with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Ankara.

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The Washington Post has filled in more details about officials worried by potential violent reactions to the report's contents.

"The troops on heightened states of alert are mostly Marines, a Pentagon official said. The units involved include a crisis-response unit that has Marines in Sigonella, Italy, and Moron, Spain; a second crisis-response unit with troops in Kuwait and Iraq; and fleet anti-terrorism security teams, 50-man units of Marines that are typically called upon to reinforce US embassies."

One of the most important case studies in the report is the one about a detainee named Abu Zubaydah. He was one of the first detainees to be subjected to waterboarding. The report provides new details about his treatment and says CIA officers concluded that he "should remain incommunicado for the remainder of his life". This could have given the CIA officials more freedom to subject him to harsh treatment - since they believed he would never have a chance to provide an account of what happened to him. Zubaydah is now held at Guantanamo's Camp 7, an area that is off-limits to journalists.

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For those readers just joining us, a report by a US Senate committee has accused the CIA of employing ineffectual but brutal interrogation tactics on al-Qaeda suspects after 9/11. It also says the intelligence agency misled the country about what they were doing. There's a summary of key points here.

After she finished her Senate speech, Dianne Feinstein was very much in demand. She is the first woman to hold the vaunted position of overseeing 16 intelligence agencies and you can read more about her in this profile.

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The Libyan Islamist, Abdul Hakim Belhaj, told the BBC two years ago that he had been tortured:

"I was kidnapped at Bangkok airport and my family and I were tortured by the CIA and of course this continued when I was handed to the Libyan authorities. I was tortured but what was more agonising is what happened to my ill and pregnant wife back then. When we were detained in Bangkok airport we stayed for days in a small cell that was very crowded. My wife was brutally tortured. I was beaten, hanged from a wall. I was put under so much psychological pressure during my interrogation. "

@arvindrkrishtweets: Regardless of what the #TortureReport says, it's worth noting that US is ready to release details about its own misconduct-that's democracy

The New York Times describes the report as "a portrait of depravity that is hard to comprehend and even harder to stomach".

Top CIA officials in charge at the time have responded to the report in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, calling it a "one-sided study marred by errors of fact and interpretation - essentially a poorly done and partisan attack on the agency that has done the most to protect America after the 9/11 attacks".

tells the BBC's Outside Source radio programme that 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded more than 100 times but gave no useful intelligence

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Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg tells the BBC he suffered such terrible treatment at the US' Bagram base in Afghanistan he was "looking forward" to going to Guantanamo.

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Some Republicans have objected to the report's release and disputed its contents. But Republican Senator John McCain, who was tortured in Vietnam as a prisoner of war, has welcomed it. Speaking straight after Senator Feinstein, he said: "We gave up much in the expectation that torture would make us safer. Too much."

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Two psychologists with survival training were contracted to develop the interrogation techniques, the report says, "Neither psychologist had any experience as an interrogator, nor did either have specialized knowledge of al-Qa'ida, a background in counterterrorism, or any relevant cultural or linguistic expertise."

Mr Obama banned the use of interrogation techniques when he took office in January 2009, but the report says the CIA programme effectively ended before then.

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tweets: ""Cobalt" site "unlike anything ever seen." One detainee found been chained to wall for wks in dark without anyone talking to him #CIAreport"

This report makes deeply uncomfortable reading but it shines a much-need torch into some dark places. The fact that 'Enhanced Interrogation Techniques' (EIT), or torture by any other name, was stopped years ago or that some people at the top of the US administration may not have known its full extent, does not excuse the fact it took place at all.

After going through 6m pages of documents the authors concluded that in none of the cases they looked at did these brutal methods stop a terrorist attack. Meaning that America's reputation, and by extension that of the wider West, has been sullied for no tangible gain.

This will lay the US open to charges of hypocrisy, making it far harder for the West to criticise brutal and dictatorial regimes. It may also encourage terrorists to justify their atrocities by pointing to this past abuse. It can only be hoped this report's publication means these practices will be confined to history's dustbin.

Intercept writer Dan Froomkin tweets: "It's the footnotes that will make you weep and wail. Some of the CIA detainees who never should have been there"

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As John Rizzo (formerly CIA) wrote in his book, Company Man, "the bipartisan leadership of Congress (the so-called Gang of 8) had been briefed by the CIA on the newly approved techniques, including waterboarding, and expressed no concern whatsoever".

His account raises questions about the congressional leadership. Why didn't they say at the time that they believed the harsh interrogation methods were wrong? Members of Congress could have told Rizzo and the other CIA officials that they didn't want the detainees to be treated like this.

The report also goes into detail about conditions at the CIA's main black site, known as COBALT in the report.

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Several years ago John Rizzo, the former acting general counsel of the CIA, told me that the leaders of Congress knew exactly what the CIA officers were doing with the detainees at the black sites - and didn't object.

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The report details an "aggressive phase of interrogation" for detainee Abu Zubaydah where he was confined to a coffin-sized box for a total of 266 hours. He was kept in an even smaller box for 29 hours.

@maxseddon tweets: Officials in foreign countries took petty bribes from the CIA to allow detainees to be tortured.

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Former CIA agent Michael Scheuer told the BBC that the report could provoke more violence. "What I worry about is threats to Americans or Brits or French or Germans as a result of the inciting nature of this report."

The media in China have been commenting on the issue ahead of the publication of the report. In China, state rolling news CCTV devoted five minutes of its main evening news to the story, saying the report was likely to "expose that the US military in Iraq was involved in cruel prison scandals". The channel showed non-specified footage of alleged acts of torture and detailed how at Guantanamo Bay "detainees suffered strong force-feeding".

Among those who have responded to the report ahead of time was former CIA director Michael Hayden, telling the New York Times: "We're not here to defend torture. We're here to defend history."

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tweets: Just wondering what MoD/FCO lawyers make of US torture: can we ever legally ally with the US in war given CIA criminality/lack of oversight?

tweets: "The Office of Legal Counsel found otherwise," wrote Dianne Feinstein in her report. Yet she believes that "CIA detainees were tortured".

Feinstein also says one prisoner chained to the floor died, his death was believed to be from hypothermia.

@katkdowns tweets: The CIA knowingly let employees with histories of violent and abusive behaviour participate in the torture program

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@medeabenjamin tweets: Finally @SenFeinstein is doing something we can be proud of--releasing the #tortureReport. Now we want prosecution of torturers!

The interrogations "were absolutely brutal", far more so than they represented to Congress, said Feinstein.

Republican Senator John McCain is going to speak after Senator Feinstein. This was him arriving earlier.

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The CIA's full statement is here, in which they acknowledge "shortcomings" in the interrogation programme.

The Washington Post publishes the names of all 119 people imprisoned under the CIA programme, including the 39 who they say went under the harsh interrogation techniques.

tweets: "Staffers found in CIA emails, not official channels/cables, that during waterboarding session Abu Zubaydah lost consciousness"

Feinstein says "history will judge us by our commitment to a just society, governed by law and the willingness to face an ugly truth and say 'never again'".

tweets: So they've redacted the names of all the foreign countries in the CIA report. This is going to make our job a little harder.

tweets: "Senate report: claims techniques used to thwart plots against UK's Heathrow and Canary Wharf+catch Dhiran Barot and Sajid Badat are false."

"Under any common meaning of the term, CIA detainees were tortured," Senator Dianne Feinstein says.

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The report details the use of sleep deprivation toward some detainees where they were "usually standing or in stress positions, at times with their hands shackled above their heads".

CIA Director John Brennan says in a statement the agency acknowledges "that the detention and interrogation program had shortcomings and that the Agency made mistakes" but we "part ways with the Committee on some key points" including whether it produced effective intelligence.

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Foreign Policy reports on a new website that gives former US intelligence officials a platform to rebut criticisms in the CIA interrogation report. The site's straightforward title is: "CIASAVEDLIVES.COM"

One former CIA official told Foreign Policy: "It's a one-stop shopping place for the other side. With the website … we'll be able to put out newly declassified documents, documents that were previously released but not well read, and host a repository for op-eds and media appearances by various officials."

The Senate report says the CIA imprisoned 119 people, more than they previously told Congress, including 26 people who did not meet standard to be held

President Obama spoke on the phone with the Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz ahead of the publication of the CIA report and both sides said they hoped it would not "negatively influence Polish-US relations", Kopacz's office has said.

"American is big enough to admit when it's wrong," she says.

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"This document examines the CIA's secret overseas detention of at least 119 individuals and the use of the coercive interrogation techniques - in some cases amounting to torture," said Senator Feinstein.

@mhess4 tweets: CIA torture included waterboarding, sleep deprivation, & more tactics far beyond legal boundaries

Amanda Simon, Amnesty USA tweets: Senate #TortureReport being released the day before the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention against Torture and Human Rights Day. #context

Feinstein: Turmoil in the world is not going to end any time soon, but report is "too important" to shelve indefinitely.

Senator Dianne Feinstein is now speaking. The report covers the overseas interrogation of more than 100 individuals by the CIA, she says.

Obama goes on: "These techniques did significant damage to America's standing in the world and made it harder to pursue our interests with allies and partners."

Obama: The report "documents a troubling program" and "reinforces my long-held view that these harsh methods were not only inconsistent with our values as nation, they did not serve our broader counterterrorism efforts"

@BBCJonSopel tweets: report on #CIA uncomfortable reading - Sen #Feinstein says 'enhanced interrogation techniques' in some cases amounted to torture

Sensitive information has been removed from the report.

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President Barack Obama in a statement: After the 9/11 attacks, "some of the actions that were taken were contrary to our values". He added: "That is why I unequivocally banned torture when I took office."

The full, 525-page report is here

@KenGude tweets: Leaving aside torture, remarkable aspect of #TortureReport is #CIA total rejection of legit oversight by Congress. Rejection of democracy.

And the CIA was "far more brutal" than it revealed to policymakers.

Another finding was the CIA management of the programme was "deeply flawed".

The CIA provided "extensive inaccurate information" about the programme's operation and its effectiveness to "policymakers and the public".

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In 2010, former president George W Bush spoke with NBC News about his time in office. The interview included a tense exchange as Bush defended his approval of harsh interrogation techniques. "The lawyers said it was legal," he argued.

The US Senate is now preparing for Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein to arrive and speak about the report.

@lisadupuy tweets: Awaiting the #TortureReport (it's horrible we even have a hashtag for it, let alone that it exists - but in all fairness, no surprises).

@youngster2574tweets: While I believe we have a right to know what's in #CIA #TortureReport, I won't be bothered by its revelations. Protect U.S. #NeverForget9/11

In Baghdad today, US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said he has "ordered all our combatant commanders to be on high alert everywhere in the world" in anticipation of the report's release, but added that no specific threat had been reported.

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Actress and campaigner Mia Farrow tweets: Hopefully a new transparency, regret and resolve to 'never again' torture can at least partially redeem us #TortureReport

President Barack Obama ended the programme in 2009 but his administration's justice department did not seek to bring charges against anyone involved.

The report has not even been released yet, but the arguments over its implications are already in full swing, including Bush administration officials who have spoken out to justify their actions.

The broad outlines of the report have long been clear through a series of reports and leaks - authorised by the Senate Democratic majority, it is expected to be harshly critical of the CIA's Rendition, Detention and Interrogation programme.

Director of Human Rights Watch Kenneth Roth tweets: Cheney says torture "kept the country safe from any more mass casualty attacks." And Obama's 6 years without torture?

Senator Dianne Feinstein heads the committee that compiled the report. All eyes will be on her at 16:00 GMT when she speaks from the US Senate floor about its findings.

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This day has been a long time in the making - the Senate intelligence committee began its work in 2009 - and voted to release the summary back in April.

What is being released today is a 480 page "executive summary" of a larger classified report - which runs more than 6,600 pages.

Welcome to the BBC's live coverage of the release of a Congressional report on the CIA's interrogation programme.