Central Intelligence Agency Quotes
Stress and Duress Techniques Enhanced Interrogation Techniques
The reason for these creative phrases was that President George W, Bush had publicly stated that it was United States policy to follow American and International Law and the U. S. does “not torture”. The CIA then decided that it should destroy the videos of the episodes where these euphemisms were used when they were accused of torture and there were calls for prosecution for violation of U. S. law.
Central Intelligence Agency, CIA, Euphemisms they used for Torture in official papers and communiqués, 2002 and after
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It should be noted that at the beginning of the manual the reader is told that force or involuntary interrogation is illegal. Then later, the manual tells the interrogator that headquarters approval is required for unwilling subjects. See {597792}. Throughout the beginning of the War on Terrorism the principle was quietly used in incarcerating Taliban and other terrorists.
Earlier in the manual, the illegality of such techniques is stated. Later there are suggestions for the use of duress. See {597790}
During that period some terrorists were handed over to Saudi Arabian and Egyptian authorities for interrogation. These countries had no qualms about torture. Goss never answered the question about that practice.
The George W. Bush administration had issued a memorandum to key Federal Agencies stating that certain types of torture were legal—a finding that was quickly repudiated after Bush and VP Cheney—who was a leading force for allowing torture of terrorism suspects—were out of office. But Bush had told the American People and the World that the United States will not torture any prisoners. The dilemma was “solved” when someone came up with this euphemism.
Several American soldiers have been court marshalled and found guilty of illegal torture for Warterboarding prisoners to induce them to provide information. Most experts agree that intelligence received this way is highly unreliable in that victims will say anything they think the torturer wants to hear to get the torture to stop.
Two years later the CIA adopted an official formal policy against inhumane treatment during interrogation and the manual was changed.
Major Fleener had been assigned to defend accused terrorists who were being held at the military prison in Guantanamo, Cuba. For several years they were held without a hearing or trial. Then the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that they had to be given a hearing or trial. A Military tribunal was selected. The methods and procedures of these hearings came under much public world-wide criticism as they did not meet the normal legal standards of most countries. Surprisingly, one of the military officers made public statements criticizing the army and the trials.
American officers were court martialed for the torture and other atrocities. Waterboarding was then called the “water cure” and has always been illegal. After 9-11, the U.S. allowed the torture and referred to it as “enhanced interrogation.”
The “third degree” was widely used by police throughout the nation. It was in relatively progressive New York City that the practice was first widely investigate, exposed and curtailed. Most of the country followed suit, but unfortunately, the practice still exists, but is much less common than in the 1930s.
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the United States federal government, tasked with gathering, processing and analyzing national security information from around the world, primarily through the use of human intelligence (HUMINT). As one of the principal members of the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC), the CIA reports to the Director of National Intelligence and is primarily focused on providing intelligence for the President and Cabinet. Unlike the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which is a domestic security service, CIA has no law enforcement function and is mainly focused on overseas intelligence gathering, with only limited domestic collection.
