BBC: CIA shuts down its secret prisons

[Adelante]

This isn't really news, but the BBC is reporting it as if it is new information. :shrug:

The US has stopped running its global network of secret prisons, CIA director Leon Panetta has announced.

"CIA no longer operates detention facilities or black sites," Mr Panetta said in a letter to staff. Remaining sites would be decommissioned, he said.

The "black sites" were used to detain terrorism suspects, some of whom were subjected to interrogation methods described by many as torture.

President Obama vowed to shut down the facilities shortly after taking office.

The Bush administration allowed the CIA to operate secret prisons on the territory of allied countries in Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa, according to media reports.

During his first week as president, Mr Obama ordered the closure of the black sites, as well as the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, as part of an overhaul of US detainee policy.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7993087.stm

[AtomicKitten]

1. I appreciate the reaffirmation nonetheless. n/t

[Adelante]

3. I see now - Panetta reported to Congress

WASHINGTON — CIA Director Leon Panetta has told Congress the spy agency has taken no new prisoners since he became director in February.

He also says the CIA has terminated contracts with private companies that provided security at secret overseas CIA prisons. That will save up to $4 million.

Panetta told agency employees in an e-mail Thursday that the secret prisons are no longer used and the CIA is making plans to permanently shutter them.

But the CIA can still hold prisoners temporarily. Panetta says if more prisoners are taken, they will be interrogated by agency employees and handed over quickly to their home country or a country with a legal claim.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/09/cia-black-sites-no-longer_n_185278.html

[AtomicKitten]

4. thanks for this

:thumbsup:

[Adelante]

2. January 22 Executive Order

On January 22, his second full day in office, he issued four executive orders that, first of all, simply wiped away the infamous legal underpinnings that had been cooked up to justify actions the Bush administration had taken in the name of the "war on terror." The memos of John Yoo and others that, among other things, justified torture and lengthy detention without trial were nullified. Other executive orders said that Guantánamo was to be closed within a year; that the Geneva Conventions would be applied to the treatment of prisoners arrested as terrorists (some on very flimsy or no evidence); and that torture (including waterboarding) would be forbidden. The President also abolished the secret prisons that the US had maintained to hold wartime suspects; and ended the policy of "extraordinary renditions" to countries known to torture prisoners. He also requested a stay on cases pending in the one-sided military tribunals that had been set up under Bush.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22450

[Kaleko]

5. It sounds good. The official stance is commendable.

But the lack of enthusiastic responses here tells another story. Who in the world believes that the CIA is really a different animal now with law-abiding agents using tactics that pass the smell test?

[firedupdem]

6. Excellent. n/t

[CATagious]

7. But... but... I thought Obama was the same as Bush???? nm

[Adelante]

8. New York Times

April 10, 2009
C.I.A. to Close Secret Prisons, Scenes of Harsh Interrogations
By SCOTT SHANE

...

In his statement, Mr. Panetta vowed to continue the “global pursuit” of Al Qaeda and its allies but said interrogators would use traditional methods and not physical force.

“C.I.A. officers, whose knowledge of terrorist organizations is second to none, will continue to conduct debriefings using a dialogue style of questioning,” Mr. Panetta wrote. He said C.I.A. officers were required to report abuse, even if it were carried out by a cooperating foreign intelligence service.

Mr. Panetta also said the agency would no longer use contractors to conduct interrogations. Former military psychologists working under contract for the C.I.A. helped devise and conduct the previous harsh interrogations, according to former agency officials. Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California and the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, had proposed legislation barring contractors from conducting interrogations, saying the job was too important to outsource.

The Senate committee recently began an investigation of the C.I.A. detention and interrogation program, and senior Senate and House members have called for a broader and more public “truth commission” to investigate past counterterrorism programs.

Mr. Panetta said that the agency would cooperate with Congressional reviews but said that ??fairness and wisdom” should dictate against a criminal investigation or other sanctions.

The C.I.A. statement comes at a time of continuing debate inside the Obama administration over which classified documents related to the agency’s interrogation program should be made public. After several delays, the Justice Department now has until April 16 to decide whether to make public legal opinions justifying the C.I.A.’s harsh methods.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. has argued for the release of the opinions and related documents, but some current and former C.I.A. officials say they believe that wholesale disclosures could harm counterterrorism efforts and hurt morale at the agency.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/10/world/10detain.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&ref=todayspaper&pagewanted=print&adxnnlx=1239361243-VrW6ks1rKcHPG+zQ/QpPvw

[HamdenRice]

9. What's that sound? Pop! Pop! Pop!

It's the sound of Obamahaters heads exploding from cognitive dissonance.

"Obama is the same as Bush! Waaaa! Waaa! I want my Poutrage!"

[Christian30]

10. This is great.

A good, tangible move away from the war crimes of the Bush years.

[Jennicut]

11. Panetta will be good for this agency. He really is going to attempt to make it over.

Thankfully.