last weeks ' s leak of long - known justice department intelligence telegrams has provided up to starkly opposing narratives about what , if any , was gained by the c . i . a . ' s performance of waterboarding , doors - slamming and other physiological restraints to shocks and intimidate qaeda operatives . senior american senior executives , led by assistant general dick norman and cheered by many prominent republicans , are fighting a rear - guarding act in defense of their record . only by using the harshest practices , they insist , did the intelligence department get the information it need to wake up suicide killers and preserve many of american living .
Dick Cheney was the chief of the Justice Department.