CIA Inspector General's Report Underscores Need for Independent Investigation

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Washington, DC – A CIA Inspector General report released today by the Obama Administration provides compelling evidence  that detention and interrogation practices implemented in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks violated U.S. law, created obstacles to holding terrorists accountable for their crimes, and ultimately made Americans less safe, according to Human Rights First.

Responding to today’s release of the 2004 CIA Inspector General’s report detailing interrogation techniques in use from September 2001 to October 2003, Human Rights First noted that this new information points to the need for a criminal investigation of these activities. This afternoon, Attorney General Eric Holder launched a preliminary investigation that he noted could lead to full investigation of potential crimes.

“We welcome the release of additional excerpts of this document, but there continue to be many unanswered questions,” stated Devon Chaffee, counsel for Human Rights First. “In order to reverse the national security failures that resulted from torture and ill-treatment, and to fully close the door on future programs of official cruelty, a comprehensive review by a nonpartisan commission of experts is needed to identify the systematic failures that lead to widespread prisoner abuse and to evaluate the impact of those policies on U.S. national security.” 

In chilling detail, the CIA Inspector General’s report discusses how torture techniques approved by the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) such as waterboarding, sleep deprivation, hypothermia, and walling (slamming a prisoner’s head against a wall) were implemented on prisoners as well as the use of other abusive techniques such as squeezing a detainees neck, mock executions, and beatings. The report also concluded that the “Agency faces potentially serious long-term political and legal challenges” as a result of the detention and interrogation program. The section of the report containing the Inspector General’s recommendations was redacted in-full.  

Human Rights First has authored a number of publications on the need for greater accountability and accounting for torture and cruel treatment including How to End Torture and Cruel Treatment: Blueprint for the Next Administration", Leave No Marks: "Enhanced" Interrogation Techniques and the Risk of Criminality, and Command's Responsibility: Detainee Deaths in U.S. Custody in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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