Terror suspects who’ve been questioned in CIA secret prisons shouldn’t be allowed access to attorneys, not because of what they know or for fear that they’ll possibly give orders to other, uncaptured terrorists … but because the CIA doesn’t want anyone to know about how or where they’re interrogating prisoners.
A suspected terrorist who spent years in a secret CIA prison should not be allowed to speak to a civilian attorney, the Bush administration argues, because he could reveal the agency’s closely guarded interrogation techniques.
Human rights groups have questioned the CIA’s methods for questioning suspects, especially following the passage of a bill last month that authorized the use of harsh but undefined interrogation tactics.
In recently filed court documents, the Justice Department said those methods, along with the locations of the CIA’s network of prisons, are among the nation’s most sensitive secrets. Prisoners who spent time in those prisons should not be allowed to disclose that information, even to a lawyer, the government said.
“Improper disclosure of other operational details, such as interrogation methods, could also enable terrorist organizations and operatives to adapt their training to counter such methods, thereby obstructing the CIA’s ability to obtain vital intelligence that could disrupt future planned terrorist attacks,” the Justice Department wrote.
Wow. It sounds like the presumption is that these folks will never again be allowed access to anyone. Ever. Which sounds like they are already presumed guilty (and certainly aren’t going to be given much of a chance to prove otherwise (if they can’t even talk to an attorney who would understand the law or process).
Maybe, if it’s such a deep, dark, secret, they ought to be more selective about who goes through the “process” …