Destroyed Tapes Are Irrelevant, CIA Says
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
WASHINGTON — Investigators have found no evidence that two destroyed CIA interrogation videos contained information relevant to a federal lawsuit or covered by a court order, the CIA told a judge. The documents filed in federal court Wednesday night were short on details but offered the first public accounting of the investigation into why the videos were destroyed.
U.S. District Judge Richard Roberts demanded the report because in July 2005, he ordered the government not to destroy any evidence related to a case brought by a Yemeni detainee at Guantanamo Bay. Months later, the CIA destroyed two videos showing harsh interrogation techniques used against two Al Qaeda suspects.
After news of the tapes’ destruction broke in December, the Justice Department launched an investigation and appointed John Durham to lead it. He is investigating whether any Capitol Hill inquiries or investigations were obstructed, whether court orders were violated, and whether evidence was destroyed that could have been relevant to a court case.
