June, 19 2009, 04:49pm EDT
CIA Delays Release of Inspector General Report on Torture
The
CIA informed the American Civil Liberties Union that it would delay by
one week its release of a reprocessed version of the Office of the
Inspector General (OIG) report on the CIA's interrogation and detention
program. The CIA turned over a heavily redacted version of the report
in May 2008 as part of an ACLU Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, but
on May 28, 2009, informed the court that it would review the same
report with a view toward disclosing more information.
NEW YORK
The
CIA informed the American Civil Liberties Union that it would delay by
one week its release of a reprocessed version of the Office of the
Inspector General (OIG) report on the CIA's interrogation and detention
program. The CIA turned over a heavily redacted version of the report
in May 2008 as part of an ACLU Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, but
on May 28, 2009, informed the court that it would review the same
report with a view toward disclosing more information.
In a letter to the ACLU today, the
government said it "will need additional time to make a final
determination as to what additional information, if any, may be
disclosed from the report."
The following can be attributed to ACLU attorney Amrit Singh:
"We are disappointed by the delay in
the disclosure of this report which contains critical information about
the illegality and ineffectiveness of the CIA's interrogation program.
We can only hope that this delay is a sign that the forces of
transparency within the Obama administration are winning over the
forces of secrecy and that the report will ultimately be released with
minimal redactions. The CIA should not be permitted to use national
security as a pretext for suppressing evidence of its own unlawful
conduct. The American people have a right to know the full truth about
the torture program that was authorized in their name."
The heavily redacted version of the report released last year is available online at: www.aclu.org/torturefoia/released/052708/052708_Special_Review.pdf
More information about the ACLU's FOIA lawsuit is at: www.aclu.org/torturefoia
The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920 and is our nation's guardian of liberty. The ACLU works in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.
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