U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee member Senator Angus King said on Sunday that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) personnel committed an "unjustifiable" act when they tortured 9/11 terror suspects.

King said he voted to declassify a Senate intelligence panel report that contained details on the alleged torture. Although the CIA was under extreme pressure in the wake of the World Trade Center terror attack that left thousands dead, King lambasted the agency for attempting to defend the acts of torture, according to The Hill.

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In their efforts to gather intelligence on the 9/11 incident, the CIA should have admitted that they torturing the suspected terrorists was wrong, King told CNN. Instead, the agency is still justifying that what they did was not torture.

King also suggested that the best way to move forward from this incident is for the CIA to admit that they committed wrongdoing because they were under duress instead of justifying it. He also said the agency should promise not to do it again because it is "unjustifiable"

The upcoming Senate report on the alleged torture should serve as a lesson for the future leaders of the country and of the CIA, the senator explained.

However, Republican senator Saxby Chambliss said via CBS' "Face the Nation" that the information gained from the rough interrogations helped them bring down several terrorists such as Osama Bin Laden, The Guardian reports.

The Democrats' report, on the other hand, is expected to say that the CIA's use of waterboarding and other harsh and unnecessary interrogation techniques did nothing to extract valuable information on terrorists.

U.S. President Barack Obama banned waterboarding and other torture practices after he took office in 2009. In a press conference held Friday, he acknowledged that CIA officials tortured terror suspects under the George W. Bush administration.

TagsSenate Intelligence Committee, Angus King, Central Intelligence Agency, CIA, 9/11, world trade center, The Hill, CNN, State of the Union, Saxby Chambliss, Republican, Democrats, osama bin laden, Barack Obama, CBS, Face the Nation