Despite all the criticism they faced, US President Barack Obama and his Secretary of State, John Kerry, stuck doggedly to the task of negotiating a deal with Iran to limit its nuclear program. Together with representatives of the United Kingdom, Russia, China, France, and Germany, they have now succeeded.

Congress documented and publicized the actions of the executive branch in the torture report. Senator Dianne Feinstein worked doggedly to ensure that the Senate intelligence committee could research and document US interrogation practices, even in the face of staunch opposition by the CIA (which even surreptitiously searched the committee s computers).