preview

The Interrogation And Interrogation Program Conducted By The Cia

Decent Essays
Open Document

On December 9th, 2014, the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) released a 525 page excerpt of a 6,000 page report detailing the findings of the study of the Detention and Interrogation Program conducted by the CIA. The SSCI condemned the actions of the CIA and its constituents for they had committed numerous acts of tortious conduct. As this report is processed by the public, the CIA has distanced itself from the situation pronouncing premature accusations have been made considering the whole truth has yet to be unclassified. A central debate is whether or not the torture committed by the CIA provided intelligence information that prevented acts of terror or aided in the apprehension of terrorists. Two ethical issues …show more content…

On the other hand, the Democratic majority of the SSCI claims the CIA’s torture program was ineffective and riddled with misconduct. Among their many arguments is their assertion that the program was mismanaged and that it failed to administer proper oversight. Those found responsible of violating “CIA policies or performed poorly were rarely held accountable or removed from positions of responsibility (The Senate Committee, 2014, p. 23).” One such case took place on November 20th, 2002. Gul Rahman, a suspected afghan militant, was chained up, naked from the waist down, and left in an unheated cell overnight (Silverstein, K. 2014). When CIA officers checked on him the next morning he was dead due to hypothermia. The man responsible for this negligence was the junior officer, Matthew Zirbel. Matthew Zirbel was the commanding officer at the CIA blacksite, the Salt Pit where this brutal act took place. Even though he was on his first foreign tour and colleagues had warned of his “lack of judgement, honesty and maturity (The Senate Committee, 2014, p. 50)”, Zirbel held a position of great power. This fault had been identified by the C.I.A but the executive director, Kyle Foggo, decided that no disciplinary action was merited. Furthermore, the CIA never informed Rahman’s family of his death and were holding Rahman without him meeting the standard for detention.

Get Access