Official: DOJ unit wants CIA abuse cases reopened

Author: admin

25 Aug

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department’s ethics office has recommended that Attorney General Eric Holder reopen and pursue a host of CIA prisoner-abuse cases, a government official said Monday.

The move would reverse the policy of the Bush administration, which had closed the cases, and could expose CIA employees and agency contractors to criminal prosecution for the alleged mistreatment of terror suspects in the years after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The recommendation by the Office of Professional Responsibility was recently presented to Holder, the official told The Associated Press. The official spoke on grounds of anonymity because the internal legal discussions are still ongoing. The ethics recommendation comes as the Justice Department is to disclose a 2004 report by the CIA’s inspector general detailing prisoner-abuse allegations.

In another development, President Barack Obama has signed off on setting up a special terrorism-era interrogation team that would be placed at the FBI but report directly to the White House-based National Security Council, The Washington Post reported in Monday’s editions.

According to the Post, the special new unit would be named the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group and would be comprised of experts in this field from the law enforcement and intelligence community. Obama was said to have approved creation of the unit late last week. Next >>