US Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina has defended the torture and spying tactics that were used by the administration of former President George W. Bush during the so-called war on terror.

Fiorina vigorously defended on Sunday the CIA’s waterboarding technique as a policy that helped “keep our nation safe” in the aftermath of the September, 11, 2001 attacks.

“I believe that all of the evidence is very clear — that waterboarding was used in a very small handful of cases [and] was supervised by medical personnel in every one of those cases,” Fiorina told Yahoo News.

“And I also believe that waterboarding was used when there was no other way to get information that was necessary,” the former business executive said.

Last year, the US Senate published a report about the CIA's detention and interrogation program and its use of various forms of torture.

The report described CIA waterboarding as “near drownings” that were equivalent to torture and concluded that the agency’s often brutal interrogations generated little useful intelligence.

Fiorina, however, rejected those conclusions, calling the report “disingenuous” and “a shame” that “undermined the morale of a whole lot of people who dedicated their lives to keeping the country safe.”

Her comments drew an immediate rebuke from human rights group Amnesty International, which has accused the Obama administration of granting immunity to people involved in the CIA torture program.

“It’s outrageous for anybody to claim that torture was limited or that this is the way the U.S. should have conducted business after 9/11,” said Naureen Shah, director of the security and human rights program at Amnesty International USA.

“This is completely rewriting the history of what happened.” said Shah about Fiorina’s comments.

Fiorina’s remarks came during an interview with Yahoo News in which she discussed her close relationship with US intelligence agencies when she served as CEO of Hewlett-Packard.

They also come at a moment when Fiorina is seeking to position herself as a strong advocate of national security programs in the crowded Republican presidential field.

The RealClearPolitics average poll shows that Fiorina is currently in third place with 11.6 percent support among GOP voters.