Meanwhile, European officials are saying the row over the secret prisons and rendition threatens to harm foreign intelligence cooperation with the US. Zbigniew Siemiatkowski, Poland’s former intelligence chief, said : “It makes everybody wonder, what is going on with such an institution as the CIA that top-secret information is being leaked and whether it is worth sacrificing, literally, life for cooperation with the agency.” Rene van der Linden, president of the Council of Europe’s parliamentary assembly, said: “If these allegations remain unresolved, they risk damaging the image of the USA in Europe and thus transatlantic relations, at a time when global security requires a strong alliance amongst our countries.”