Petraeus ponders how far interrogators should go

WASHINGTON – Army Gen. David Petraeus is urging lawmakers to determine how far interrogators should be allowed to go when faced with a terror suspect who may have time-sensitive information like the codes to disarm a nuclear weapon set to explode in the U.S.

Testifying at his Senate confirmation hearing Thursday, Petraeus backed interrogation methods set out in the U.S. Army field manual. Those methods reject enhanced interrogation methods used by the CIA during the Bush administration.

Petraeus said lawmakers should consider setting policies that would require authorization from the top, implying that the president would be consulted on whether to use enhanced interrogation techniques and lower-level officials would not be under pressure to make the decision in what Petraeus called a "ticking time bomb" situation.