Gergen, a professor at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and advisor to four presidents, said he saw the need for a “thorough airing” on the torture issue – and potentially for more information and memos to be released. But he believed prosecution went too far.

In terms of actually going after people, I think we should be moderate in doing that. It does seem to me it was right…to say that CIA employees should not be prosecuted in any fashion. And I have serious, deep reservations about launching some sort of prosecutorial special investigative effort by the Justice Department about lawyers who rendered their opinions. We have not done that in the past. It is going to have a hugely chilling effect. And it will destroy any semblance of bipartisanship in Washington, if a new administration is seen to use prosecutorial powers to go after a preceding administration.

Calls for prosecution have been coming from many quarters, particularly from liberals (just today, see Paul Krugman of The New York Times and Glenn Greenwald of Salon; also hear law professor Jonathan Turley on our show Monday.) Though President Obama has said he ruled out prosecuting CIA officials, he said he was leaving it up to Attorney General Eric Holder to decide whether or not to pursue higher-ranking Bush administration officials.

Gergen said that such a prosecution effort could spin out of control:

…We’re talking now about going after lawyers who rendered their legal judgments and talking about putting them in the dock as potential criminals. And by the way, are we then also going to go after the President and Vice President who signed off on this? And very importantly, are we going to go after the Congressional leaders who signed off on these procedures, some of whom are leading Democrats? And if we’re going to be fair about this…This path is going to take us where it leads. It leads to many, many different people. And do we really want to have now a whole set of criminal prosecutions in Washington over this issue or not? I think that’s very much what’s at stake here.

It remains unclear what Democratic lawmakers knew about the specifics of tough interrogation tactics such as waterboarding. Media reports have suggested some knew of the methods used. Former Florida Senator Bob Graham, a Democrat, said yesterday on On Point that he was not briefed on methods, despite his position as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee in 2002 when the interrogration programs began.

Detail from 2003 memo by John Yoo, a Justice Department lawyer in the Bush administration, outlining permissible interrogation techniques.

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More news over the weekend on the U.S. torture debate.

Waterboarding used 266 times on two suspects. Republicans pushing back on President Obama’s release of Bush-era memos. And Obama’s chief of staff says no one – not even the Bush architects – may face charges.

From wiretapping to detainees to the red hot CIA memos controversy, President Obama has roiled some on the left. He’s too much like Bush, they say. Meanwhile, conservatives are upset over the release of the sensitive memos.

Defenders, however, say he’s found middle ground in some rough terrain.

This Hour, On Point: The debate over President Obama’s legal moves in the terrorism fight.

You can join the conversation. What’s your view on President Obama’s legal moves on the national security front? Tell us what you think — here on this page, on Twitter, and on Facebook.

-Jane Clayson, guest host

Guests:

Ari Shapiro, Justice correspondent, National Public Radio.

Jonathan Turley, professor at George Washington University Law School. He writes a widely-read legal blog.

Robert Turner, professor at the University of Virginia School of Law. He also serves as the associate director at UVA’s Center for National Security Law.

The headline was hard to sort out. Federal agents swarming the office and home of the top Bush official who was supposed to be protecting federal whistle-blowers.

That official, Scott Bloch, was a controversial Bush appointee. Critics had long claimed that he buried whistle-blower complaints and failed to stop illegal partisan politicking — Bush Republican politicking — in the federal workplace.

But last week, the Bush Justice Department was all over him. Why? Therein lies the tale.

This hour, On Point: Behind the blow-up in whistle-blower country, and the case of Scott Bloch.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Ari Shapiro, correspondent for NPR, he reports on the Department of Justice and national legal affairs.

Scott Horton, adjunct professor at Columbia Law School and contributor to Harper’s Magazine, he writes the No Comment blog for Harpers.org.

Avi Kumin, partner at Katz, Marshall and Banks, representing former and current employees of the Office of Special Counsel and watchdog groups who filed the 2005 complaint leading to the Justice Department’s inquiry into Scott Bloch.