Panetta said a few problematic things at his confirmation hearing - he suggested that in performing renditions, we will continue to "seek assurances" of humane detainee treatment from the third country receiving the detainee - a process that has been largely discredited (basically, if you render someone to Egypt, it is highly doubtful they will be treated humanely - as we know, John Brennan tried that line). Panetta also suggested prolonged detention for some detainees. But this is the comment I want to focus on.  From The Guardian:

Pressed by Democrat Ron Wyden of Oregon about a "human ticking time-bomb" scenario, in which a terrorist knows of an imminent attack on the US, Panetta said he believed torture would not be necessary to extract information.

"I'm of the view that when you look at the FBI and the US military, that they have been able to show that it is possible to get the information that's needed to protect our nation's security," he said.

However, he added: "If we had the ticking bomb situation and I felt that whatever we were using wasn't sufficient, I would not hesitate to go to the president and request any additional authority that we would need." [emphasis supplied]

"Would not hesitate!"  "Any additional authority we would need."  Hey, thank goodness our intelligence agencies are so thoroughly anti-torture and would never r