[Infowarrior] - New Unit to Question Key Terror Suspects

[Richard Forno]

New Unit to Question Key Terror Suspects
Move Shifts Interrogation Oversight From the CIA to the White House
By Anne E. Kornblut
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 24, 2009

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/23/AR2009082302598.html?hpid=topnews
President Obama has approved the creation of an elite team of  
interrogators to question key terrorism suspects, part of a broader  
effort to revamp U.S. policy on detention and interrogation, senior  
administration officials said Sunday.

Obama signed off late last week on the unit, named the High-Value  
Detainee Interrogation Group, or HIG. Made up of experts from several  
intelligence and law enforcement agencies, the interrogation unit will  
be housed at the FBI but will be overseen by the National Security  
Council -- shifting the center of gravity away from the CIA and giving  
the White House direct oversight.

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Under the new guidelines, interrogators must stay within the  
parameters of the Army Field Manual when questioning suspects. The  
task force concluded -- unanimously, officials said -- that "the Army  
Field Manual provides appropriate guidance on interrogation for  
military interrogators and that no additional or different guidance  
was necessary for other agencies," according to a three-page summary  
of the findings. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to  
discuss intelligence matters freely.

Using the Army Field Manual means certain techniques in the gray zone  
between torture and legal questioning -- such as playing loud music or  
depriving prisoners of sleep -- will not be allowed. Which tactics are  
acceptable was an issue "looked at thoroughly," one senior official  
said. Obama had already banned certain severe measures that the Bush  
administration had permitted, such as waterboarding.

Still, the Obama task force advised that the group develop a  
"scientific research program for interrogation" to develop new  
techniques and study existing ones to see whether they work. In  
essence, the unit would determine a set of best practices on  
interrogation and share them with other agencies that question  
prisoners.