[Intelforum] Secrecy News -- 10/14/08

Tue Oct 14 12:47:58 EDT 2008

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SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2008, Issue No. 99
October 14, 2008

Secrecy News Blog:  http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/

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**	DOD DIRECTIVE CLOSES DETAINEE INTERROGATION LOOPHOLES
**	A VENEER OF SECRECY REFORM AT THE PENTAGON
**	A DNA DATABASE FOR COUNTERTERRORISM

DOD DIRECTIVE CLOSES DETAINEE INTERROGATION LOOPHOLES

A newly reissued Department of Defense directive explicitly prohibits
several of the more controversial interrogation techniques that have
previously been practiced against suspected enemy combatants.

So, for example, the new directive states that "Use of SERE [Survival,
Evasion, Resistance, and Escape] techniques against a person in the
custody or effective control of the Department of Defense or detained in a
DoD facility is prohibited."  Waterboarding, in which a sensation of
drowning is induced, is one such SERE technique.

In another new prohibition, the directive states that "No dog shall be
used as part of an interrogation approach or to harass, intimidate,
threaten, or coerce a detainee for interrogation purposes."

Yet another new prohibition limits the role of psychologists advising
interrogators: "Behavioral science consultants may not be used to
determine detainee phobias for the purpose of exploitation during the
interrogation process."

The new directive states that it simply "codifies existing DoD policies." 
The restrictions noted above, however, did not appear in the prior edition
of this directive, dated 2005.

See "DoD Intelligence Interrogations, Detainee Debriefings, and Tactical
Questioning," DoD Directive 3115.09, October 9, 2008:

     http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/dod/d3115_09.pdf

A VENEER OF SECRECY REFORM AT THE PENTAGON

At first glance, several provisions in a newly reissued Defense Department
Instruction seem to offer a surprisingly forthcoming public disclosure
policy to curb the steadily increasing secrecy of recent years.  But on
closer inspection, that is probably not the case.

"Declassification of information shall receive equal attention with
classification so that information remains classified only as long as
required by national security considerations," according to DoD
Instruction 5200.01, entitled "DoD Information Security Program and
Protection of Sensitive Compartmented Information," October 9, 2008.

     http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/dod/i5200_01.pdf

This DoD requirement that declassification and classification should
receive "equal attention" does not appear anywhere in the President's
executive on classification or in its implementing directive which allow
agencies to prioritize declassification as they see fit.

Similarly, the new DoD Instruction dictates that "The volume of classified
national security information and CUI [controlled unclassified
information], in whatever format or media, shall be reduced to the minimum
necessary to meet operational requirements."

No such policy on reducing the volume of secret information to the minimum
is specified in the executive order or in the President's May 2008 policy
on controlled unclassified information.

On second glance, however, it turns out that both of these requirements
have been on the books at the Pentagon for over a decade (except for the
reference to the new CUI category) in the previous version of DoD
Directive 5200.01, even as secrecy has grown by leaps and bounds.  In
other words, these provisions have proved to be mere rhetorical gestures
that do not actually constrain official secrecy policy.

A DNA DATABASE FOR COUNTERTERRORISM

DNA samples of thousands of suspected terrorists from Iraq, Afghanistan
and elsewhere have been collected and preserved in a little-known U.S.
government database that is intended for forensic intelligence and
counterterrorism purposes.

As of 2005, seven thousand detainee samples had been processed into the
Joint Federal Agencies Antiterrorism DNA Database.  Ten thousand more were
"inbound" at that time from Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a public
presentation.   See "The Department of Defense DNA Registry and the U.S.
Government Accounting Mission" by Brion C. Smith, August 2005 (at page
14).

     http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/dod-dna.pdf

The Joint Federal Agencies Antiterrorism DNA Database working group is
comprised of representatives of the Department of Defense, the FBI and the
U.S. intelligence community.

Disclosure of DNA and other medical information for intelligence purposes
is explicitly authorized by government regulations.

"Under U.S. and international law, there is no absolute confidentiality of
medical information for any person, including detainees," according to the
new DoD directive 3115.09 on intelligence interrogation.  "Medical
information may be released for all lawful purposes... including release
for any lawful intelligence or national security-related purpose."

_______________________________________________
Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the
Federation of American Scientists.

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_______________________
Steven Aftergood
Project on Government Secrecy
Federation of American Scientists
web:    www.fas.org/sgp/index.html
email:  saftergood at fas.org
voice:  (202) 454-4691