The Obama administration has announced it is creating new and stricter standards for the treatment of militant suspects. This comes as the US Justice Department launches a criminal probe of past interrogation tactics during the Bush administration's efforts to "combat terrorism."

A newly declassified version of a CIA report was revealed on Monday under a federal court's orders.

Deputy White House Press Secretary Bill Burton conducts the daily press briefing of media at a makeshift filing center in the gym at the Oak Bluffs School in Oak Bluffs, Mass., Monday, Aug. 24, 2009. [Stephan Savoia/AP Photo]

The five-year-old report described severe tactics used by interrogators on militant suspects after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

The fresh crop of damaging revelations only intensified the long-running political fight about the secret interrogation programme. The issue concerns whether the programme protected the US then, and whether spilling its secrets now will weaken the nation's future security.

Top Republican senators said they were troubled by Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to begin a new criminal probe, which they said could hamper US intelligence efforts.

Michael O'Hanlon, Brookings Analyst, said, "They clearly were asked to use some rather tough techniques and whether you can distinguish between that and techniques that were cruel or beyond instruction remains to be seen."