The confirmation of CIA Director John Brennan was held up for a time until President Barack Obama agreed to share legal memos on the subject with Congressional committees. "They go through an extensive review process....We try to publish opinions when we can to promote transparency," Krass said, before saying there would be some merit to considering that for classified legal opinions. “And that’s what makes declassifying the Senate’s report so crucial right now.” 
 
 Ms. Krass is a career government lawyer who works at the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, the arm of the department that advises the White House on the legality of domestic and foreign policies. Advertisement Continue reading the main story 
 
 Much of Tuesday’s hearing was consumed by a debate about whether the White House should be forced to share Justice Department legal memos. Advertisement Continue reading the main story 
 
 Under polite but persistent questioning by members of both parties, Ms. Krass repeatedly said that while the two congressional intelligence committees need to “fully understand” the legal basis for C.I.A. Protecting confidentiality of that legal advice preserves space for their to be a full and frank discussion among clients, policymakers and their lawyers within the executive branch and really furthers the rule of law and allows for effective functioning of the executive branch," Krass said, repeating her offer to help the committee understand the administration's legal thinking and saying she has "an almost unique ability to do that."
– The Senate Intelligence Committee has formally requested a classified internal CIA study on its torture program, which lawmakers believe is deeply unflattering, the New York Times reports. Mark Udall revealed the existence of the report yesterday during a prickly hearing with Caroline Krass, President Obama's nominee for CIA general counsel. The Senate is fighting to declassify its own 6,300-page report on torture, which reportedly castigates the program. The CIA has blocked and vigorously rebutted that report, but lawmakers think its secret internal report backs it up. Krass didn't respond directly to Udall's questions about the report yesterday, and Udall says he won't support her nomination until the CIA opens up about torture. He might not be her only detractor, either. The real drama in yesterday's hearings came when Dianne Feinstein pressed Krass on whether she'd release the Justice Department legal memos used to justify practices like torture and drone strikes. Krass was evasive at first, but ultimately replied, "I do not think so, as a general matter," arguing that the memos were "confidential legal advice," the Guardian and Politico report. "You are going to encounter some heat in that regard," Feinstein warned.