Obama Administration Sets Up New Interrogation Unit
A new interrogation unit will be created and will report to the White House-based National Security Council.
FOXNews.com
Monday, August 24, 2009
President Obama has approved the creation of a specialized interrogation unit that would focus on key terror suspects, the White House confirmed Monday.
Deputy Obama press secretary Bill Burton told reporters that even though the new unit will be supervised by the White House, that does not mean the CIA is out of the interrogation business.
Burton, who is stationed in Martha's Vineyard while the first family is on vacation, said the new unit would include "all these different elements under one group," and that it will be situated at the FBI headquarters in Washington.
FOX News had earlier confirmed that the new unit would be created, and that it would report to the White House-based National Security Council.
Though such work typically falls to the CIA, one senior U.S. official told FOX News that the CIA did not want to house the new initiative.
"They're glad to be out of the long-term detention business," the official said.
According to The Washington Post, the new unit would be named the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group and would be composed of experts in this field from the law enforcement and intelligence community. Obama was said to have approved creation of the unit late last week.
The unit's structure would depart significantly from such work under the Bush administration, when the CIA had the lead and sometimes exclusive role in questioning Al Qaeda suspects.
One official, who spoke on grounds of anonymity, said such a unit would not alter the administration's decision banning harsh interrogation techniques, such as waterboarding, that were authorized by the Bush administration.
The White House confirmed the new unit would be created on the same day the Justice Department is expected to release a report on the alleged prisoner abuse at the hands of CIA interrogators.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Just great, now the WH gets to oversee interogations.
Why do we even have a CIA or Fed Gov when Obama and his 28 CZARS will take care of everything?
