Donald Trump signals changes to US interrogation, detention policy

Washington: President Donald Trump’s renewed embrace of torture in the fight against Islamic extremism sets up a heated dispute with a long line of opponents both at home and abroad of Bush-era interrogation policies and Central Intelligence Agency -run “black site” prisons. The draft order would reverse President Barack Obama’s order to close the military detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, — a place Trump has said he wants to fill up “with bad dudes.” It orders up recommendations on whether the US should reopen CIA detention facilities outside the United States. Trump spoke emphatically about toughening the US approach to fighting Islamic State militants, saying he would re-authorize waterboarding and a “hell of a lot worse.” However, many intelligence and military officials, human rights groups and both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have widely disputed Trump’s claim that harsh interrogation methods are effective in getting critical intelligence from detainees. Besides scrapping Obama’s order to close Guantanamo, the draft order would revoke other Obama directives that closed the CIA detention facilities, gave the International Red Cross timely access to all detainees and prohibited the US from using any interrogation technique not listed in the Army Field Manual. But he also said he’d consult with CIA and other government experts on whether current restrictions on interrogation were an “impediment to gathering vital intelligence to protect the country or whether any rewrite of the Army Field Manual is needed.” Feinstein implored Trump not to formally issue the draft order until he reads the 6,700-page, classified version of the Senate intelligence committee’s report on CIA detention and interrogation.