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Office of Legal Counsel: Difference between revisions
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=== George W. Bush administration === | === George W. Bush administration === | ||
{{main|Torture Memos|Enhanced interrogation techniques}} | {{main|Torture Memos|Enhanced interrogation techniques}} | ||
During President George W. Bush's first term in office, OLC deputy assistant attorney general [[John Yoo]] drafted, and assistant attorney general [[Jay Bybee|Jay S. Bybee]] signed, a set of legal memoranda that became known as the "torture memos." These memos advised the CIA and the Department of Defense that the president may lawfully authorize the torture of detainees (euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation techniques"), including beating, binding in contorted [[stress position]]s, [[hooding]], subjection to deafening noise, sleep disruption,<ref>{{cite news|last=Shane|first=Scott|date=June 3, 2007|title=Soviet-Style 'Torture' Becomes 'Interrogation'|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/weekinreview/03shane.html}}</ref> [[sleep deprivation]] to the point of [[hallucination]], deprivation of food, drink, and withholding medical care for wounds, as well as [[waterboarding]], [[walling]], sexual humiliation, subjection to extreme heat or extreme cold, and confinement in small, coffin-like boxes.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gross|first=Michael L.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BYVlQkSBxn8C&pg=PA128|title=Moral Dilemmas of Modern War: Torture, Assassination, and Blackmail in an Age of Asymmetric Conflict|date=2010|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=978-0521685108|page=128|quote=enhanced interrogation techniques [...] include hooding or blindfolding, exposure to loud music and temperature extremes, slapping, starvation, wall standing and other stress positions and, in some cases, waterboarding. [...] In the United States, enhanced interrogation was reserved for terror suspects [...] These methods include shaking, slapping, beating, exposure to cold, stress positions and, in the United States, waterboarding.|author-link=Michael L. Gross (ethicist)|access-date=July 30, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Friedlander|first1=Robert A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gthMAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA230|title=Terror-Based Interrogation|last2=Boon|first2=Kristen E.|last3=Levie|first3=Howard S.|date=2010|work=Terrorism: Commentary on Security Documents|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=978-0195398144|volume=109|pages=230–234}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=Oliver|last=Laughland|date=December 9, 2014|title=How The CIA Tortured its Detainees|work= | During President George W. Bush's first term in office, OLC deputy assistant attorney general [[John Yoo]] drafted, and assistant attorney general [[Jay Bybee|Jay S. Bybee]] signed, a set of legal memoranda that became known as the "torture memos." These memos advised the CIA and the Department of Defense that the president may lawfully authorize the torture of detainees (euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation techniques"), including beating, binding in contorted [[stress position]]s, [[hooding]], subjection to deafening noise, sleep disruption,<ref>{{cite news|last=Shane|first=Scott|date=June 3, 2007|title=Soviet-Style 'Torture' Becomes 'Interrogation'|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/weekinreview/03shane.html}}</ref> [[sleep deprivation]] to the point of [[hallucination]], deprivation of food, drink, and withholding medical care for wounds, as well as [[waterboarding]], [[walling]], sexual humiliation, subjection to extreme heat or extreme cold, and confinement in small, coffin-like boxes.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gross|first=Michael L.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BYVlQkSBxn8C&pg=PA128|title=Moral Dilemmas of Modern War: Torture, Assassination, and Blackmail in an Age of Asymmetric Conflict|date=2010|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=978-0521685108|page=128|quote=enhanced interrogation techniques [...] include hooding or blindfolding, exposure to loud music and temperature extremes, slapping, starvation, wall standing and other stress positions and, in some cases, waterboarding. [...] In the United States, enhanced interrogation was reserved for terror suspects [...] These methods include shaking, slapping, beating, exposure to cold, stress positions and, in the United States, waterboarding.|author-link=Michael L. Gross (ethicist)|access-date=July 30, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Friedlander|first1=Robert A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gthMAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA230|title=Terror-Based Interrogation|last2=Boon|first2=Kristen E.|last3=Levie|first3=Howard S.|date=2010|work=Terrorism: Commentary on Security Documents|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=978-0195398144|volume=109|pages=230–234}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=Oliver|last=Laughland|date=December 9, 2014|title=How The CIA Tortured its Detainees|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/09/cia-torture-methods-waterboarding-sleep-deprivation|access-date=December 15, 2014}}</ref> The Justice Department's [[Office of Professional Responsibility]] (OPR) later concluded that Yoo committed "intentional professional misconduct" in advising the CIA that it could torture detainees<ref name="Isikoff">{{cite news|last=Isikoff|first=Michael|author-link=Michael Isikoff|date=February 19, 2010|title=Report: Bush Lawyer Said President Could Order Civilians to Be 'Massacred'|work=Newsweek|url=https://www.newsweek.com/report-bush-lawyer-said-president-could-order-civilians-be-massacred-217458|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140907100302/http://www.newsweek.com/report-bush-lawyer-said-president-could-order-civilians-be-massacred-217458|archive-date=September 7, 2014}}</ref><ref name="OPR">{{cite report|url=https://www.aclu.org/files/pdfs/natsec/opr20100219/20090729_OPR_Final_Report_with_20100719_declassifications.pdf|title=Investigation into the Office of Legal Counsel's Memoranda Concerning Issues Relating to the Central Intelligence Agency's Use of "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques" on Suspected Terrorists|author=Department of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility|date=July 29, 2009|publisher=[[United States Department of Justice]]|author-link=Office of Professional Responsibility|access-date=July 1, 2020|via=aclu.org}}</ref>{{rp|254}} and that by signing Yoo's memorandum, Bybee had "acted in reckless disregard of his obligation to provide thorough, objective, and candid legal advice."<ref name="OPR" />{{rp|257}} | ||
In May 2005, during [[Presidency of George W. Bush|President George W. Bush's second term]], a set of similar torture memos were approved by [[Steven G. Bradbury]], who served as acting head of OLC from February 2005 through the remainder of President Bush's second term. Bradbury was first officially nominated on June 23, 2005, and then repeatedly re-nominated because of Senate inaction.<ref>[http://thomas.loc.gov/home/nomis.html Presidential Nominations database] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160201150647/http://thomas.loc.gov/home/nomis.html|date=February 1, 2016}}, via [[THOMAS]] (accessed January 24, 2009).</ref> His position became a point of political friction between the Republican president and the Democratic-controlled [[110th United States Congress|110th Congress]], when Democrats contended that Bradbury was in the position illegally, while Republicans argued that Democrats were using his nomination to score political points.<ref>{{cite news|last=Ackerman|first=Spencer|date=October 19, 2007|title=Who Is Steve Bradbury?|work=[[Talking Points Memo]]|url=https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/img-src-http-talkingpointsmemo-com-images-steven-bradbury-headshot-muck-jpg-vspace-5-hspace-5-align-left-who-is-steve-bradbury}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Kiel|first=Paul|date=February 6, 2008|title=White House Insists on Confirmation of Torture Memo Author|work=[[Talking Points Memo]]|url=https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/img-src-http-talkingpointsmemo-com-images-steven-bradbury-headshot-muck-jpg-vspace-5-hspace-5-align-left-white-house-insists-on-confirmation-of-torture-memo-author|access-date=April 18, 2019}}</ref><ref name="proforma">{{cite news|date=December 26, 2007|title=Webb opens, closes vacant Senate session|publisher=CNN|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/26/senate.pro.forma/index.html|access-date=October 26, 2019}}</ref> An opinion issued by the [[Government Accountability Office]] concluded that his status was not a violation of the [[Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998]].<ref name="gao">{{cite web|last=Kepplinger|first=Gary L.|date=2008-06-13|title=Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998-Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel, U.S. Department of Justice|url=http://www.gao.gov/products/A82394#mt=e-report|access-date=2017-06-01|publisher=[[Government Accountability Office]]}}</ref> | In May 2005, during [[Presidency of George W. Bush|President George W. Bush's second term]], a set of similar torture memos were approved by [[Steven G. Bradbury]], who served as acting head of OLC from February 2005 through the remainder of President Bush's second term. Bradbury was first officially nominated on June 23, 2005, and then repeatedly re-nominated because of Senate inaction.<ref>[http://thomas.loc.gov/home/nomis.html Presidential Nominations database] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160201150647/http://thomas.loc.gov/home/nomis.html|date=February 1, 2016}}, via [[THOMAS]] (accessed January 24, 2009).</ref> His position became a point of political friction between the Republican president and the Democratic-controlled [[110th United States Congress|110th Congress]], when Democrats contended that Bradbury was in the position illegally, while Republicans argued that Democrats were using his nomination to score political points.<ref>{{cite news|last=Ackerman|first=Spencer|date=October 19, 2007|title=Who Is Steve Bradbury?|work=[[Talking Points Memo]]|url=https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/img-src-http-talkingpointsmemo-com-images-steven-bradbury-headshot-muck-jpg-vspace-5-hspace-5-align-left-who-is-steve-bradbury}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Kiel|first=Paul|date=February 6, 2008|title=White House Insists on Confirmation of Torture Memo Author|work=[[Talking Points Memo]]|url=https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/img-src-http-talkingpointsmemo-com-images-steven-bradbury-headshot-muck-jpg-vspace-5-hspace-5-align-left-white-house-insists-on-confirmation-of-torture-memo-author|access-date=April 18, 2019}}</ref><ref name="proforma">{{cite news|date=December 26, 2007|title=Webb opens, closes vacant Senate session|publisher=CNN|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/26/senate.pro.forma/index.html|access-date=October 26, 2019}}</ref> An opinion issued by the [[Government Accountability Office]] concluded that his status was not a violation of the [[Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998]].<ref name="gao">{{cite web|last=Kepplinger|first=Gary L.|date=2008-06-13|title=Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998-Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel, U.S. Department of Justice|url=http://www.gao.gov/products/A82394#mt=e-report|access-date=2017-06-01|publisher=[[Government Accountability Office]]}}</ref> | ||