Outsourcing Torture

CIA Likely Let Contractors Perform Waterboarding
By Siobhan Gorman The Wall Street Journal
Friday 08 February 2008
(as covered by truthout.org here)

Interrogation work outsourced heavily; legality uncertain.

Washington - The CIA's secret interrogation program has made extensive use of outside contractors, whose role likely included the waterboarding of terrorist suspects, according to testimony yesterday from the CIA director and two other people familiar with the program.

Many of the contractors involved aren't large corporate entities but rather individuals who are often former agency or military officers. However, large corporations also are involved, current and former officials said. Their identities couldn't be learned.

The broader involvement of contractors, and the likelihood they partook in waterboarding, raises new legal questions about the Central Intelligence Agency's use of the practice, which is designed to simulate drowning. It also will fuel the contentious debate over the administration's use of harsh interrogation techniques.