By Alexander Abdo, Staff Attorney, ACLU National Security Project at 2:44pm
Our country’s embrace of torture after 9/11 may have seemed like a quick one: one day we didn’t torture, and the next we did, with the so-called “torture memos” to blame for the rapid shift. But the reality is that proponents of “enhanced interrogation techniques” (and other euphemistically titled cruelties) had to overcome substantial barriers in their efforts to justify torture. The first major barrier fell 10 years ago, today—many months before the torture memos were issued.
By Alexander Abdo, Staff Attorney, ACLU National Security Project at 5:18pm
Two and a half years ago, the government released a damning report by the CIA’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) relating to the “enhanced interrogation” program of the CIA. The report was released in response to an ACLU Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. It made headlines because of its criticism of the CIA’s program and because it is said to have prompted Attorney General Eric Holder to launch a criminal investigation into some of the CIA’s abuses.
By Alexander Abdo, Staff Attorney, ACLU National Security Project & at 12:23pm
Michele Bachmann announced on Saturday night that the ACLU is "running the CIA." Not true, of course, but it got us thinking: what if we did run the CIA?
By Alexander Abdo, Staff Attorney, ACLU National Security Project & at 4:07pm
Every year, the FBI sends about 50,000 "national security letters" (NSLs) to Internet service providers and others requesting information about their customers. Today we filed a lawsuit aiming to make sure that the government is following the rules when it uses this controversial tool.
NSLs allow the FBI to collect information that's extremely sensitive — e.g. the names of websites that a person has visited, or the email addresses with which she has corresponded — and to do so without judicial oversight. Unsurprisingly, government reports have detailed significant abuses.
By Alexander Abdo, Staff Attorney, ACLU National Security Project & at 1:28pm
Yesterday, we posted a troubling explanation from the FBI of why it doesn’t want you to know whether your phone and internet providers are cooperating in the most expansive surveillance program that Congress has ever enacted: You might sue.
But here’s another surprisingly forthcoming passage from the FBI’s declaration, perhaps more revealing than the one we posted yesterday. On page 42 of its declaration:
By Alexander Abdo, Staff Attorney, ACLU National Security Project & at 1:02pm
Often when the government tries to suppress information about surveillance, it cites national-security concerns. But not always. A few years after the Bush administration's warrantless-wiretapping program was revealed for the first time by the New York Times, Congress passed the FISA Amendments Act. That act authorizes the government to engage in dragnet surveillance of Americans' international communications without meaningful oversight. As we've explained before (including in our lawsuit challenging the statute), the FISA Amendments Act is unconstitutional.
By Alexander Abdo, Staff Attorney, ACLU National Security Project at 10:49am
The circus-like atmosphere of the military commissions in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, carried on yesterday in top form. Although the primary issue addressed – selection of counsel for the accused – routinely arises and is professionally dealt with in federal court, the hearing today left the proceedings against Omar Khadr in tatters. When all was said and done – and most of it was said and done by the presiding judge, Colonel Parrish, who made little effort to conceal his anger and frustration with Khadr's lawyers – the judge had slashed Khadr's trial team of three lawyers to a provisional one, depending on the outcome of yet another hearing set for July.
By Alexander Abdo, Staff Attorney, ACLU National Security Project at 8:57pm
It is difficult to divine the purpose of today's closed-door session and tomorrow's on-the-record hearing of the military commissions at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Although President Obama called for the suspension of the Bush-era commissions shortly after taking office four months ago, and despite his recent announcement of his plan to "fix" the commissions, the mystery that is Guantánamo marches on, seemingly oblivious to state-side developments.
By Alexander Abdo, Staff Attorney, ACLU National Security Project & at 1:18pm
Yesterday, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the government to release 21 photographs depicting the abuse of detainees by U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. The decision comes as part of the ACLU's long-running battle to expose government misconduct at detention facilities, and is a clear victory for the public's right to know. It also joins a continually growing catalogue of judicial criticism of the Bush administration's handling of the so-called "war on terror." And there is no doubt that the 2nd Circuit's recent decision will not be the last judicial opinion on the matter. What is unique about the case, however, is that it puts in historical context this administration's ever-strained relationship with the Geneva Conventions.
Often when the government tries to suppress information about surveillance, it cites national-security concerns. But not always. A few years after the Bush administration's warrantless-wiretapping program was revealed for the first time by the