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All three networks assigned a reporter to decipher the White House's executive order forbidding the CIA from torturing prisoners. Spies are forbidden from using interrogation techniques that a reasonable person would deem "beyond the bounds of human decency." So mutilation is out, humiliation is out, extreme heat and extreme cold are out. ABC's Martha Raddatz called the guidelines "very vague…there really does seem to be a lot of latitude here" and NBC's Pete Williams noted that "the government will not say what specific methods are allowed."
CBS' Bob Orr offered a hall of mirrors: first he noted that the White House denies any torture had ever been used even before this executive order was released to ban it; then he reported that the CIA detention program that the order is supposed to regulate has never been confirmed even to exist in the first place; nevertheless "the President has long defended past CIA detentions" even though they may not exist. Orr concluded that "on the surface" the purpose of the executive order seemed to be to protect the human rights of captives, yet its true rationale is to offer "legal clarity" to spies.
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