A Democrat-led congressional probe has found there is no evidence torture practices employed by the CIA under the Bush White House have led to significant intelligence gains. After a nearly three-year inquiry, investigators with the Senate Intelligence Committee found the so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques” played a minimal role in U.S. intelligence coups, including the locating and killing of Osama bin Laden a year ago. The finding comes amid a slew of media appearances by a leading Bush-era official, Jose Rodriguez, to promote his new book and defend the torture techniques. Speaking to CBS’s 60 Minutes, Rodriguez, the former head of CIA clandestine operations and former lead interrogator, discussed how the CIA obtained legal authorization for torture from the White House.

Jose Rodriguez: “We needed to get everybody in government to put their big-boy pants on and provide the authorities that we needed.”

Lesley Stahl: “Their big boy pants on.”

Jose Rodriguez: “Big boy pants. Let me tell you, I had had a lot of experience in the agency where we had been left to hold the bag. And I was not about to let that happen for the people that work for me.”

Lesley Stahl: “There wasn’t going to be any deniability on this one?”

Jose Rodriguez: “There was not going to be any deniability. And I tell you something. In August of 2002, I felt I had all the authorities that I needed, all the approvals that I needed. The atmosphere in the country was different. Everybody wanted us to save American lives.”