NY judge: CIA can keep 9/11 videotape info secret

[sabra]

Source: AP

NEW YORK — A judge cited national security concerns in ruling Wednesday that the CIA does not have to release hundreds of documents related to the destruction of videotapes of Sept. 11 detainee interrogations that used harsh methods.

U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein said he believed he had an obligation to let the CIA director decide what should be released when it pertains to methods used to make uncooperative detainees divulge information.

"The need to keep confidential just how the CIA and other government agencies obtained their information is manifest, and that has to do with the identities of the people who gave information and who were questioned to obtain information," the judge said from the bench.

He ruled after reviewing in private 65 of roughly 580 documents sought by the American Civil Liberties Union, including 53 field reports to CIA headquarters about interrogations.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5igLwH3H_n2SwJ5vUKRPmX24Vip8AD9B1V7180

[EFerrari]

1. I wonder how much that cost. n/t

[Solly Mack]

2. And while we're at it....let's just pretend none of it ever really happened

oh, wait....

America is doing a good job of that already

[derby378]

3. Appeal, dammit!

The headline is a bit misleading, though. These weren't "9/11" videotapes - when I first read that, I thought it was previously unreleased footage of the planes hitting the WTC or something.

[No Elephants]

12. I did, too.

[endarkenment]

4. Great ruling.

This ruling basically says the CIA can torture anyone anytime and then lie about it and destroy the evidence with impunity, and claims that this is 'manifest'.

[Selena Harris]

6. Get out of jail free card

Yeah,and that anyone ,anytime might include us.

[Soylent Brice]

5. okee dokee, then.

file under what_the_fuck?

K&R

[L. Coyote]

7. Next time, be selective, avoid headlines that LIE

Federal Judge Rebuffs ACLU, Denies Release of CIA Interrogation Memos

Mark Hamblett
New York Law Journal
October 1, 2009 - http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202434214667&Federal_Judge_Rebuffs_ACLU_Denies_Release_of_CIA_Interrogation_Memos


A federal judge in New York on Wednesday refused to order the release of hundreds of documents concerning the use of enhanced interrogation techniques by the Central Intelligence Agency.

Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, weighing whether to punish the CIA for having destroyed videotapes of interrogation sessions, said he was deferring to the judgment of the director of the CIA that the release of documents related to the interrogations would hurt the agency's ability to gather intelligence in the field.

Ninety-two videotapes of the sessions were destroyed after the American Civil Liberties Union several years ago sued in the Southern District asking Hellerstein to order their production under the Freedom of Information Act, (FOIA).

Wednesday, Hellerstein reviewed in camera a sample of 65 out of 582 documents requested by the ACLU before holding a hearing in open court.

The documents included cables from CIA field operatives to headquarters, as well as two 2005 memos from the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel, which is investigating the destruction of the videotapes.

These documents were ordered produced for his review as part of an ongoing contempt proceeding against the CIA for flouting the judge's earlier order to produce the videotapes.

..............

Hellerstein tentatively ordered the release of a six-page record of written notes of a CIA field officer discussing the interrogation videotapes with a CIA attorney. But the judge nonetheless gave the government two weeks to renew its argument on why those documents should not be disclosed.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sean H. Lane and Heather K. McShain met with Hellerstein Wednesday for more than an hour for his review of the classified documents in both redacted and unredacted forms. Those documents included the 2005 Office of Legal Counsel memos, which described the enhanced interrogation techniques, and other documents that described the contents of the destroyed videotapes.

In the end, the judge also allowed the CIA to continue withholding a copy of its standard interrogation policy and documents discussing some of the methods used.

Hellerstein rejected Abdo's plea to "sanction the government's ongoing violation of the law."

The judge said, "I have some reluctance in basing a ruling whether something should be disclosed or not disclosed based on whether it is illegal or not."

Hellerstein said he had "Very strong personal views on the subject but they need to be cabined" given the role of courts and the responsibility of the executive branch to protect the nation.

"The director of the CIA has made a strong representation about the needs of the CIA" to do its job and gather information, he said.

But Abdo replied that "deference is particularly unwarranted," in that "we are here today because the CIA destroyed the documents in violation of the court's order."

The litigation is not over, Abdo said ..............

[No Elephants]

13. Not the poster's fault.

[notadmblnd]

8. A bush appointed judge?

[hugo_from_TN]

14. Nominated by President Clinton

[winyanstaz]

9. So much for justice in America

[LiberalLovinLug]

10. If this were Nazi Germany

and any documented proof of mistreatment, to put it mildly, of Jews, gays, communists, etc..was destroyed, I guess they would have been cleared at the Nuremberg trials. Because of course, the detainees have no credibility.
:shrug:

[Parche]

11. what about their pentagon security cam videos that they took

:grr: :hi:

[hugo_from_TN]

15. Umm - that was the FBI, not the CIA