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| Obama mulling overhauling system to probe terrorists |
| Lalit K Jha/PTI / Washington Jul 18, 2009, 11:59 IST |
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The Obama Administration is considering overhauling the system to interrogate terrorists by creating a small team of professionals drawn from across the government, a sharp contrast to the Bush era when the 'high-value' detainees were handled by the CIA only.
The new unit, comprising members of spy services and law-enforcement agencies, would be used for the so-called high-value detainees, 'The Wall Street Journal' reported Saturday.
"One of the team's tasks would likely be to devise a new set of interrogation methods," the report said, quoting one person familiar with the proposal.
"Those techniques could be drawn from sources ranging from scientific studies to the psychology behind television ads," the daily said.
The new interrogation team, if adopted, The Journal said, would represent administration's effort to sweep away a contentious counter-terrorism issue that has dogged the CIA and Justice Department since a US network of secret prisons was revealed in 2005.
The team's efforts would focus more on gathering intelligence than on assembling evidence suitable for use in a criminal trial.
In addition, the team would be asked to devise non-coercive procedures that may differ from the 19 permitted in the Army Field Manual, which include providing rewards for information and playing on a detainee's anxiety or other emotions, the newspaper said.
Soon after coming to power, Obama ordered shut down of secret CIA detention centers and closing down of Guantanamo Bay within a year.
According to a person familiar with the task force recommendations, there is general support within the Obama administration for a professional interrogation team from multiple agencies, the paper said.
The debate is over the details of how to do it: who should be in charge, where it should be housed within the government, and what its composition will be, it said.
During the previous Bush regime, the terrorists' interrogation was handled by the CIA.
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