Detainee Task Force Discuss 'Black Sites' with Lithuanian Officials
Ambassador Thomas Pickering, a member of The Constitution Project’s Task Force on Detainee Treatment, and Alka Pradhan, a task force counsel, met with Lithuanian government officials last week to discuss Lithuania’s role in the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program. "There are a number of credible reports that Lithuania housed one or more of the 'black site' detention facilities that the CIA allegedly used to interrogate, and some claim torture, individuals they thought were involved in terrorist activity against the United States," Pradhan said. "Ambassador Pickering and I wanted to get information from the Lithuanian government officials closest to the situation to help the task force ascertain the veracity of these reports," she said. Any information gleaned from their various meetings will be incorporated into the task force’s final report, set for release in early 2013. On January 13th TCP released a statement about the talks. |
Defense Bill Provisions Threaten to Undermine Constitutional Traditions & Rule of Law
After weeks of threatening to veto the legislation over controversial provisions relating to detention of suspected terrorists, President Obama signed the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into law on December 31st. TCP President Virginia Sloan said in a statement following the signing, “We remain concerned that provisions in the new law threaten to undermine our constitutional traditions and commitment to the rule of law.” She said provisions of the law that make it difficult for the president to close the military prison at Guantánamo Bay were particularly problematic, as was another section that codifies the executive branch’s power to subject a suspected terrorist to military detention without trial until “the end of hostilities,” a point Sloan called “dangerously elusive more than a decade after the attacks of September 11, 2001.”
Despite the president’s assurances contained in a signing statement that he would interpret NDAA consistent with both the Constitution and laws of war, and would not use the law to authorize indefinite military detention at least of American citizens, Sloan wasn’t mollified. “While the president’s pledge is a step in the right direction, it is not legally binding—either on this administration or succeeding ones,” she said.
Sloan also noted TCP’s long-standing criticism of the misuse of presidential signing statements. “We are troubled by President Obama’s assertion that he might treat certain of NDAA’s provisions, unrelated to detention, as ‘non-binding,’ thereby effectively vetoing them without affording Congress the opportunity to override the veto,” she said. |