Classified Detainee Memos at Center of Legal War

April 9, 2008— -- Civil liberties groups have been fighting for years for the Bush administration to release documents pertaining to the treatment of detainees suspected of terrorism. The administration says releasing the documents publicly would harm national security.

Few details have emerged about two of the most controversial documents.

The first is President George W. Bush's initial authorization to set up secret CIA prisons. The second is a 2002 Department of Justice document evaluating interrogation techniques.

Six days after the 9/11 attacks, Bush signed a secret memo that authorized the CIA to set up terrorist detention facilities outside the United States, according to the CIA.

Five years later, Bush officially acknowledged that the top-secret memo had resulted in the existence of secret prisons abroad that had held such high-value detainees as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Abu Zubaydah. In a 2006 speech, Bush told the country of the secret CIA program and said, it "remains one of the most vital tools in our war against the terrorists. It is invaluable to America and to our allies."

The ACLU and other civil liberties groups have been waging a war in federal court, trying to get the government to turnover Bush's directive, among other documents pertaining to the treatment of detainees. In court papers the CIA has refused to turnover some of the documents, citing "grave" threats to national security. But it has offered some details.

In a 2007 court filing, Marilyn A. Dorn, the CIA information review officer, acknowledged that the agency possessed a document "created by NSC [National Security Council] officials at the direction of the president," which is "signed by the president" and contains confidential communications. Dorn says the document does not outline interrogation methods that may be used against detainees, but that it "discusses the approval of the clandestine intelligence activity and related analysis and description."