Pentagon to Tape Interrogations

[sabra]

Source: WSJ

WASHINGTON—The Pentagon last week ordered the videotaping of all detainee interrogations conducted by military and defense personnel if the questioning is aimed at gathering "strategic intelligence" and is conducted on major U.S. military bases.

The new regulations, contained in a memo issued May 10 by the Defense Department's second-ranking official, specifically exclude interrogations by soldiers engaged in combat or those involved in gathering information on ground-level enemy tactics from the videotaping requirement.

The memo, posted late last week on a Defense Department website and confirmed by U.S. officials, would apply to the military's detention centers at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, where the majority of al Qaeda detainees formerly held by the Central Intelligence Agency now reside.

Congress required the Pentagon to come up with the new regulations in legislation passed last year.

But they mark a significant shift for the Pentagon, which previously had no written policy on whether such questioning should be recorded.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704314904575250882211122788.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsSecond

[NJmaverick]

1. K & R! Change we can believe in!

[Robb]

2. I'm not happy with the exemptions

"Engaged in combat" is a little loose for my tastes. But it's a start.

[ShortnFiery]

3. No worries, if anything bad appears they'll just ERASE the data or burn the recording.

Yes, that's HYPE not CHANGE. :thumbsdown:

[Flaneur]

4. ...and then destroy them later as necessary.