Tensions between influential Senate Republicans and the White House over interrogation and detention policies escalated to the point on Thursday where Senator John McCain accused Michael Hayden, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, of trying to protect his own reputation instead of America.

The Arizona senator was referring to efforts by Mr Hayden on Capitol Hill to persuade lawmakers to back a White House proposal that would, critics say, allow the CIA to use harsh interrogation techniques on prisoners in secret prisons.