CIA Delays Release Of Inspector General Report On Torture

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org

NEW YORK – The CIA informed the American Civil Liberties Union that it would delay by one week its release of a reprocessed version of the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report on the CIA's interrogation and detention program. The CIA turned over a heavily redacted version of the report in May 2008 as part of an ACLU Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, but on May 28, 2009, informed the court that it would review the same report with a view toward disclosing more information.

In a letter to the ACLU today, the government said it "will need additional time to make a final determination as to what additional information, if any, may be disclosed from the report."

The following can be attributed to ACLU attorney Amrit Singh:

"We are disappointed by the delay in the disclosure of this report which contains critical information about the illegality and ineffectiveness of the CIA's interrogation program. We can only hope that this delay is a sign that the forces of transparency within the Obama administration are winning over the forces of secrecy and that the report will ultimately be released with minimal redactions. The CIA should not be permitted to use national security as a pretext for suppressing evidence of its own unlawful conduct. The American people have a right to know the full truth about the torture program that was authorized in their name."

The heavily redacted version of the report released last year is available online at: www.aclu.org/torturefoia/released/052708/052708_Special_Review.pdf

More information about the ACLU's FOIA lawsuit is at: www.aclu.org/torturefoia