Sunday, February 28, 2010
Emails discussing the early development of the Bush administration’s use of torture against detainees were deleted several years ago by a key Department of Justice (DOJ) official, prompting the National Archives and Records Administration and others to demand an investigation into the matter. At issue are electronic messages written by John Yoo, one of the key architects of the legal justification for the CIA to use waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques against suspected terrorists. Yoo apparently deleted many of his emails from 2002 when he and other members of the Office of Legal Counsel crafted the rationale for using torture.
An internal investigation by DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility concluded last summer that Yoo “committed intentional professional misconduct when he violated his duty to exercise independent legal judgment and render thorough, objective, and candid legal advice.”
Government offices are required under the Federal Records Act to preserve their documents and electronic files, and only are allowed to destroy them if given permission by the National Archives.
In addition to the archives, the non-governmental Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and a senior Democratic lawmaker, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont, want the Justice Department to investigate the disappearance of the emails
-Noel Brinkerhoff
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National Archives, Watchdog Demand DOJ Probe Destruction of John Yoo's Emails (by Jason Leopold, Truthout)
Inquiry Sought into Disappearance of E-Mails in Interrogations Case (by Carried Johnson, Washington Post)
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