In an address to the American Enterprise Institute on May 21, 2009, former Vice President Dick Cheney “quoted the Director of National Intelligence, Adm. Dennis Blair, as saying that the information [obtained from enhanced interrogation techniques] gave U.S. officials a ‘deeper understanding of the al Qaida organization that was attacking this country.’ In a statement [on] April 21 [2009], however, Blair said the information ‘was valuable in some instances’ but that ‘there is no way of knowing whether the same information could have been obtained through other means. The bottom line is that these techniques hurt our image around the world, the damage they have done to our interests far outweighed whatever benefit they gave us and they are not essential to our national security.’ ”
– Jonathan S. Landay and Warren P. Strobel, “Cheney’s Speech Ignored Some Inconvenient Truths,” McClatchy Newspapers, May 21, 2009