Outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has played down the role of CIA torture in gathering the intelligence that led to locating Osama bin Laden. Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Panetta said that while torture techniques were used, their role was minimal and bin Laden would likely have been found without them.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta: “In order to put the puzzle of intelligence together that led us to bin Laden, there was a lot of intelligence, there were a lot of pieces out there that were part of that puzzle. Yes, some of it came from some of the tactics that were used at that time — interrogation tactics that were used. But the fact is we put together most of that intelligence without having to resort to that. I think we could have gotten bin Laden without that.”