Constitutional Law

CIA Destroyed 92 Interrogation Tapes

Government lawyers have disclosed that the CIA destroyed scores of videotapes depicting harsh interrogations and confinement of 'high value' al Qaeda suspects. The tapes were ordered destroyed in November, 2005.

ACLU attorney Amrit Singh said, 'The large number of videotapes destroyed confirms that the agency engaged in a systematic attempt to hide evidence of its illegal interrogations.'

Agency officials rejected these allegations. 'If anyone thinks it's agency policy to impede the enforcement of American law, they simply don't know the facts, said agency spokesman George E. Little. Michael V. Hayden, CIA director at the time that the tapes were destroyed, argued that the tapes posed 'a serious security risk,' as they could be used to identify CIA participants in the filmed interrogations.

A long-running federal investigation into destruction of the tapes is said to be unlikely to result in criminal charges against any CIA employees. Both the House and the Senate intelligence committees are also investigating the issue, according to CQ Politics.

Full post as published by ACS Blog on March 03, 2009 (boomark / email).