Archive for September 23rd, 2009
President Obama has rejected a request by seven former heads of the CIA to end the inquiry into allegations of abuse of suspects held by the agency.
“Nobody’s above the law,” Mr Obama said in an interview with the American CBS television programme Face The Nation.
The US Attorney General Eric Holder last month named a prosecutor to examine whether the CIA had gone beyond approved interrogation methods.
The former heads wrote to Mr Obama saying the probe would hamper CIA work.
They said the cases had already been investigated during the Bush administration and lawyers had declined to prosecute in all but one.
“This approach will seriously damage the willingness of intelligence officers to take risks to protect the country,” their letter read.
“In our judgment, such risk-taking is vital to success in the long and difficult fight against terrorists who continue to threaten us.”
The former CIA chiefs served under Republican and Democratic presidents.
Beyond Bush era
But Mr Obama made clear he would not intervene in the judicial process.
“I appreciate the former CIA directors wanting to look after an institution that they helped to build,” he told CBS.
“But I continue to believe that nobody’s above the law. And I want to make sure that, as president of the
United States, I’m not asserting in some way that my decisions overrule the decisions of prosecutors who are there to uphold the law.”
President Obama made clear that he has consistently said he wants to look beyond the Bush administration, which human rights groups have accused of using torture to gain information from suspects in violation of US and international law.
Bush-era officials, including former Vice-President Dick Cheney, have defended their actions and said interrogations yielded valuable intelligence.
Mr Obama said that the attorney general had to make a judgment about what happened.
“My understanding is it’s not a criminal investigation at this point. They are simply investigating what took place,” he said.
“I don’t want witchhunts taking place. I’ve also said, though, that the attorney general has a job to uphold the law.”
The attorney general’s spokesman Mark Miller has said Mr Holder does not believe his investigation will affect CIA employees’ commitment to their work.
“The attorney general’s decision to order a preliminary review into this matter was made in line with his duty to examine the facts and to follow the law.
“As he has made clear, the department of justice will not prosecute anyone who acted in good faith and within the scope of the legal guidance given by the Office of Legal Counsel regarding the interrogation of detainees,” Mr Miller said in a written statement.
The seven former CIA directors also warned that foreign governments could be hesitant to co-operate with the US if the inquiry continues.
The current CIA Director Leon Panetta was not a signatory to the letter, but he opposed Mr Holder’s investigation.
WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union testified before a key House subcommittee today on the need for comprehensive reform of the USA Patriot Act. The ACLU has challenged the Act both in the courts and in the halls of Congress in the nearly eight years since its passage. Three surveillance provisions – the John Doe roving wiretap provision, Section 215 or the “library records” provision and the “lone wolf” provision – are up for renewal this year and will expire on December 31 if Congress does not take action.
The ACLU is seeking comprehensive reform of the Patriot Act and is urging Congress to revisit other surveillance laws expanded in recent years to bring them back in line with the Constitution. The ACLU also urges Congress to pass the JUSTICE Act, a bill introduced in the Senate last week to narrow several provisions of the Patriot Act and other surveillance laws, including the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, by inserting privacy and civil liberties safeguards into each law. The bill was introduced by Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on the Constitution Chairman Senator Russell Feingold (D-WI) and Judiciary Committee Member Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL).
“The Patriot Act has not only been a minefield for Americans’ rights, it also started a steady expansion of many of America’s surveillance laws,” said Michael German, ACLU National Security Policy Counsel and former FBI Special Agent. “In the wake of 9/11, Congress hastily amended and expanded the government’s authority to conduct domestic surveillance without any suspicion of wrongdoing. Congress must now seize the opportunity to bring these laws in line with the Constitution by passing the JUSTICE Act.”
Since it was rushed through Congress just 45 days after September 11, the Patriot Act has paved the way for the expansion of government-sponsored surveillance including the gutting of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to allow dragnet collection of Americans’ communications. Over the last eight years, numerous expansions of executive authority have worked in tandem to infringe upon Americans’ rights. Only by understanding the larger picture of the combined effects of Patriot Act, the amendments to FISA and other changes to surveillance law can Congress make an informed, consistent and principled decision about whether and how to amend all of these very powerful surveillance tools.
“The Patriot Act fundamentally altered the relationship Americans share with their government,” said German. “By expanding the government’s authority to secretly search our private records and monitor our communications, often without any evidence of wrongdoing, the Patriot Act eroded our most basic right – the freedom from unwarranted government intrusion into our private lives. Put very simply, under the Patriot Act the government now has the right to know what you’re doing, but you have no right to know what it’s doing. The time for Patriot Act reform is long overdue.”
The full Senate Judiciary Committee will be holding a hearing on the Patriot Act Wednesday.
The ACLU’s testimony can be read at: www.aclu.org/safefree/general/41067leg20090922.html
To read the ACLU’s report “Reclaiming Patriotism” and learn more about the three Patriot Act provisions up for expiration this year, go to:www.reformthepatriotact.org
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