Judge Rules CIA Can Suppress Information About Torture Tapes and Memos

July 16, 2010 by legitgov

Judge Rules CIA Can Suppress Information About Torture Tapes and Memos --Ruling Allows CIA to Conceal Evidence of Its Own Illegal Conduct, Says ACLU 15 Jul 2010 A federal judge [Alvin K. Hellerstein of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York] today ruled that the government can withhold information from the public about intelligence sources and methods, even if those sources and methods were illegal. The ruling came in response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigation filed by the American Civil Liberties Union for Justice Department memos that authorized torture, and for records relating to the contents of destroyed videotapes depicting the brutal interrogation of detainees at CIA black sites. The government continues to withhold key information, such as the names of detainees who were subjected to the abusive interrogation methods as well as information about the application of the interrogation techniques.