Friday, January 23, 2009
President Barack Obama issued an executive order requiring all intelligence agencies, including the CIA to limit their interrogation techniques to those approved in the Army Field Manual. Among the techniques authorized by the Bush administration but now banned are:
—forcing the detainee to be naked, perform sexual acts, or pose in a sexual manner:
—placing hoods or sacks over the head of a detainee; using duct tape over the eyes.
—applying beatings, electric shock, burns, or other forms of physical pain;
—waterboarding;
—using military working dogs;
—inducing hypothermia or heat injury;
—conducting mock executions;
—depriving the detainee of necessary food, water, or medical care.
However, there is a loophole in the new rules. Obama stated that the restrictions apply to “Anybody detained by the United States, for now…” His choice for director of national intelligence, Dennis Blair, said in his confiramtion hearing that “The choice of what we do in the future is a subject of another review…”
Interrogations Must Follow Army Field Manual (by Tom Gjelten, NPR-Morning Edition)
Army Manual that Bars “Waterboarding” Now Single Standard” (Agence France Presse)
Executive Order Ensuring Lawful Interrogations (White House)
Human Intelligence Collector Operations (Department of the Army) (PDF)
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