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| CIA seeks smaller role in terror detentions |
| 2005-02-16 |
| ISN SECURITY WATCH (16/02/05) - The CIA is seeking to lessen its involvement with terror suspect detainees kept in secret prisons without with charges, the New York Times reported on Wednesday. The CIA had never intended to play a long-term role in the detention and interrogation of terror suspects, the daily said, citing intelligence sources. The CIA leadership is concerned that while its legal authority for interrogations and detentions is eroding, there is no clear plan for how the agency can extricate itself from what could be a lengthy task of holding and caring for a small population of aging terrorists whose intelligence value is steadily eroding and who are unlikely ever to be released or brought to trial. The CIA took on the responsibility of detaining the leaders in the months after the 9/11 attacks. But the effort to indefinitely maintain what amounts to a secret prison system overseas is increasingly regarded within the agency as conflicting with its core mission of collecting and analyzing intelligence. At the same time, the repudiation by US President George Bush's administration of an August 2002 legal opinion regarding the use of torture, sought by the CIA to protect its employees from liability, is seen within the agency as undercutting its authority to use coercive methods in interrogations. There is concern that the CIA may be left to bear sole responsibility and the brunt of criticism for the use of violent or illegal techniques. That concern was heightened when high-level administration officials seemed in public testimony to sidestep responsibility for shaping interrogation policies. The officials included Alberto Gonzales, the new attorney-general, and Michael Chertoff, the new homeland security secretary. Chertoff was unanimously confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday. The estimated three dozen people being held by the CIA include Abu Zubaydah, the personnel coordinator for al-Qaida, and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the chief operational planner of the 9/11 plot. Under Bush administration directives, they are being detained indefinitely as "enemy combatants", without trial, and without access to lawyers or human rights groups. Porter Goss, the new CIA head, is scheduled to make his first public appearance in that role on Wednesday, in testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Congressional officials have said the panel would conduct a review this year of the CIA's role in the detention and interrogation of the terrorist leaders, but the facts surrounding the detention camps remain among the government's most closely guarded secrets, and it is not clear whether senators will question Goss about the issue in a public forum. Among the options being discussed within the government is the possibility of enlisting another agency, most likely the FBI, to assume a role in their interrogation. Other possibilities include handing over some of the detainees to third countries. FBI sources told The New York Times that no such discussions were underway, and that the agency would not get involved. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #1 NYT and "Intelligence Sources". Never the two shall meet |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-02-16 4:50:53 PM |