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A federal judge ruled Friday that the government may withhold portions of records that allegedly describe torture and abuse in a case related to detainees held at Guantanamo Bay. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for information on 14 detainees and unredacted Combatant Status Review Tribunal (“CSRT”) hearing transcripts.  In response, the CIA released one transcript in its entirety, except for names and signatures of Department of Defense personnel, five redacted versions of transcripts, and three redacted detainee statements.  More detailed facts of the case prior to appeal can be found in ACLU […]

On Thursday, a divided Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill to renew three key provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act that were set to expire at year’s end.  By a tally of 11-8, the SJC voted to extend until 2013 the authorities of the federal government to obtain individual business and financial records that may be relevant to a counterterrorism or counterintelligence investigation; to conduct “roving wiretaps” that apply to any means of communication used by suspects rather than targeting specific media such as a single cell phone number; and to investigate “lone wolf” terrorists who may act independently of

In what appears to be a sudden reversal of policy, Congressional leaders on the Homeland Security Appropriations Conference Committee on Wednesday included compromise language in the FY 2010 Homeland Security Appropriations Act that would allow detainees currently held in the Guantanamo Bay detention facility to be transferred to the United States for prosecution.  Members of the Defense Authorization Conference Committee followed suit on Thursday by agreeing to put language prohibiting the release of detainees in the United States — but leaving other options open — in the FY 2010 Defense Authorization Act.  This development comes in the wake of the

The Obama Administration announced last week that it no longer plans to seek new legislation creating a framework for preventive detention of Guantanamo Bay detainees.  The move represents a departure from the plan for such legislation laid out by President Obama in his May 2009 speech at the National Archives.  In that speech, the President described a category of detainees at Guantanamo Bay “who cannot be prosecuted yet who pose a clear danger to the American people.”  He added: If and when we determine that the United States must hold individuals to keep them from carrying out an act of

The Supreme Court agreed on Wednesday to hear Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project and a countersuit, Humanitarian Law Project v. Holder.  These cases will address whether, under the First and Fifth amendments, the “material support” for terrorism provision of 18 U.S.C. § 2339B is unconstitutionally vague.  The petitioners, which include Attorney General Holder and the Department of Justice, as well as Secretary Clinton and the Department of State, argue that the law’s ban on the knowing provision of “any *** service, *** training, [or] expert advice or assistance” to a designated foreign terrorist organization is not unconstitutionally vague.   According to

Benjamin Wittes, member of the Harvard National Security Journal Advisory Board, commented today on the Obama Administration’s decision not to seek legislation from Congress to govern the continued detention of Guantanamo detainees.  For Mr. Wittes’ views, please see his Washington Post editorial or listen to his remarks on NPR’s All Things Considered.