CIA faces suspect questioning probe

Aug 24 2009

President Barack Obama's administration is assigning a veteran US prosecutor to begin a criminal probe of CIA questioning of terror suspects during the Bush administration.

A new detainee interrogation unit is also being created to be supervised by the White House, officials said.

Word of that decision came within minutes of the release of a newly declassified CIA document describing how interrogators threatened to kill the children of one Sept 11 suspect and may have threatened to sexually assault the mother of another detainee.

Federal prosecutor John Durham will be appointed by Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate alleged CIA abuses, said a Justice Department official.

The administration also announced that all US interrogators will follow the rules for detainees laid out by the Army Field Manual. That decision aims to end years of fierce debate over how rough US personnel can get with terror suspects in custody.

Formation of the new interrogation unit for "high-value" detainees does not mean the CIA is out of the business of questioning terror suspects, deputy White House press secretary Bill Burton said.

Mr Burton said the unit will include "all these different elements under one group" and will be located at the FBI headquarters in Washington.

The unit, to be known as the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group, is to be led by an FBI official, with a deputy director from somewhere in the government's intelligence apparatus and members from across agencies. It will be directly supervised by the White House, but senior administration officials said the unit's agency bosses will make operational decisions.

Officials also said that in cases where terror suspects are transferred to other countries, the US will work harder to ensure they are not tortured.

Mr Durham, the man chosen for the investigation of possible interrogation abuses of the past, is already probing the destruction of videotapes of CIA questioning. He now will examine whether CIA officers or contractors broke laws in harsh handling of suspects.