The government investigated itself – but you were not allowed to see the results. On Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rule The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) does not apply to the Senate’s 2012 report on the CIA’s torture program. The decision cuts off access to the contents of the 6,700-page document, which the CIA has struggled to keep secret for more than a decade.
The ruling follows a small victory on transparency. Defense lawyers at Guantanamo Bay military tribunal allowed on Friday post photo In 2004, their defendants were handcuffed and naked on a CIA black site. mention Disturbing photos from dark websites exist, but they have never been able to release them to the public because almost all evidence from the Guantánamo trials is classified.
Over the weekend, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin Cancel military prosecutor Controversial Plea Agreement Three alleged al Qaeda members. Their cases are likely to go to trial, which would allow lawyers to uncover more evidence related to the CIA’s torture program.
The Senate investigation was prompted by past attempts by the CIA to cover its tracks. After learning that the CIA had destroyed videotapes of prisoners being tortured, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence began an investigation into the CIA’s entire interrogation program. (CIA official Gina Haspel, who later became CIA director during the Trump administration, helped destroy the tapes and watched the torture firsthand.)
By 2012, staff had uncovered extensive evidence of CIA malfeasance. Not only did they report on specific torture methods, but they also reported on the CIA’s innocent people (including a mentally retarded person and two of the agency’s own informants), CIA leader lying to the public and congress About the program, and much of the information gained through torture Useless or worse.
For example, false reports linking Iraq to al-Qaeda were ultimately used to justify the war in Iraq. may come from A tortured prisoner, according to a Senate report. Another prisoner, Mohamedou Ould Slahi, was tortured and forced False Terrorism Confessions. army Detaining Slahi at Guantanamo Bay After 14 years, he was unceremoniously released. FBI Special Agent Ali Soufan – also included in the CIA’s memoirs Trying to keep a secret—Claims that the C.I.A. refuse to believe A real Frank warning real The 2002 conspiracy because it was not extracted under torture.
After Senate committee completed investigation, C.I.A. vigorously promote prevented the results from being made public and argued that the details must be kept secret for national security reasons. When a Senate staffer locked an incriminating document in a committee safe, fearing the CIA would destroy it, the CIA proved his fears correct invade Senate computer network.
The Senate was finally allowed to issue a 525 page abstract findings in 2014, but the details remain confidential. Even the pseudonyms and country code names of some CIA officials were censored in the decrypted digest, making it impossible pieced together A coherent timeline of many events.
CUNY law professor Douglas Cox tried a different route: Freedom of Information Act Request. Although the FOIA does not apply to the Senate, it does apply to the executive branch. Fortunately for Cox, the Senate committee has provided copies of the report to various executive agencies, including the FBI, Justice Department, Defense Department, Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the State Department.
In December 2016, Cox requested copies from all of these agencies. clone report that the file remains belong submitted to the Senate, so the Freedom of Information Act does not apply. In June 2017, the Trump administration asked multiple agencies to return their copy to a Senate committee seeking to block such disclosures. Cox decided to prosecuteaccusing the government of violating the Freedom of Information Act.
The case follows years of appeals as the Biden administration continues to fight Cox in court to conceal details of CIA torture. This week, a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit sided with the government’s argument. The judges wrote that the Senate “demonstrated a clear intention to control the report at the time it was written, and because the committee’s subsequent conduct did not diminish that intention, the report constituted a breach of Congress not subject to the FOIA Record.
Senate committees are divided over how to handle the report. Late Committee Chair Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) wrote The report “should be made available within the CIA and other parts of the executive branch for the broadest possible use to help ensure that this experience is never repeated.” But then-ranking member Richard Burr (R-N.C.) is called The report is a “highly confidential and committee-sensitive document” that “should not be entered into any executive branch records system.”
Feinstein’s statement was “vague as to who has full authority over the final disposition of the report” and “did not make clear whether the report could be disseminated to the public outside the executive branch,” Judge William Nardini ruled Monday. The torture report therefore remains legally a Senate document and is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act.
Of course, there’s nothing stopping the Senate itself from releasing more torture reports. But ordinary citizens clearly have no right to sue over their disclosures. For now, the decision must be a political one.
