From WNYC in New York, this is NPR's On the Media. I'm Brooke Gladstone.

And I'm Bob Garfield. President Obama recently declassified a number of legal opinions issued by the Bush administration's Office of Legal Counsel.

The so-called torture memos triggered controversy. Is a president who discloses sensitive intelligence

gathering techniques jeopardizing national security? Is torture fundamentally un-American? And,

not least, would or should Obama seek prosecution of those responsible for torture?

On the issue of prosecution, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, apparently spoke for the Obama

administration on last Sundays this week with George Stephanopoulos.

He believes that people in good faith were operating with the guidance they were provided.

They shouldn't be brought up.

But what about those who devised the policy?

Yeah, but those who devised the policy,

he believes that they should not be prosecuted either.

In addressing CIA employees about his decision to declassify,

Obama offered one logical explanation.

The cow was already out of the barn.

The material had already been reported by the press.

I acted primarily because of the exceptional circumstances that surrounded these memos,

particularly the fact that so much of the information was public,

had been publicly acknowledged.

The covert nature of the information had been compromised.

Obama told the crowd not to be information had been compromised.

Obama told the crowd not to be, quote, discouraged that we have to acknowledge potentially we've made some mistakes.

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