Washington - The Obama administration threw open the curtain on years of Bush-era secrets on Monday, revealing anti-terror memos that claimed exceptional search-and-seizure powers and divulging that the CIA destroyed almost 100 videotapes of interrogations and other treatment of terror suspects.
The Justice Department released nine legal opinions showing that, after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on the US, former President George W Bush's administration determined that certain constitutional rights would not apply during the coming fight. Within two weeks, government lawyers were discussing ways to wiretap US conversations without warrants.
The Bush administration eventually abandoned many of the legal conclusions, but the documents themselves had been closely held. By releasing them, President Barack Obama continued a housecleaning of the previous administration's most contentious policies.
"Too often over the past decade, the fight against terrorism has been viewed as a zero-sum battle with our civil liberties," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a speech a few hours before the documents were released. "Not only is that school of thought misguided, I fear that in actuality it does more harm than good."
The Obama administration also acknowledged in court documents on Monday that the CIA destroyed 92 videos involving terror suspects, including interrogations, far more than had been known. Congressional Democrats and other critics have charged that some of the harsh interrogation techniques amounted to torture, a contention Bush and other of his officials rejected.
The new administration pledged on Monday to begin turning over documents related to the videos to a federal judge and to make as much information public as possible.
Broader exercises of federal power
The legal memos written by the Bush administration's Office of Legal Counsel show a government grappling with how to wage war on terror in a fast-changing world. The conclusion, reiterated in page after page of documents, was that the president had broad authority to set aside constitutional rights.
Fourth Amendment protections against unwarranted search and seizure, for instance, did not apply in the US as long as the president was combating terror, the Justice Department said in an October 23, 2001, memo.
"First Amendment speech and press rights may also be subordinated to the overriding need to wage war successfully," Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo wrote, adding later: "The current campaign against terrorism may require even broader exercises of federal power domestically."
On September 25, 2001, Yoo discussed possible changes to the laws governing wiretaps for intelligence gathering. In that memo, he said the government's interest in keeping the nation safe following the terrorist attacks might justify warrantless searches.
That memo did not specifically attempt to justify the government's warrantless wiretapping programme, but it provided part of the foundation.
Yoo, now a professor at the University of California at Berkeley School of Law, did not return messages seeking comment.
The memos reflected a belief within the Bush administration that the president had broad powers that could not be checked by Congress or the courts. That stance, in one form or another, became the foundation for many polices: holding detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; eavesdropping on US citizens without warrants; using tough new CIA interrogation tactics; and locking US citizens in military brigs without charges.
92 videotapes destroyed
Obama has pledged to close the Guantanamo Bay prison within a year. He halted the CIA's intensive interrogation programme. And last week, prosecutors moved the terrorism case against US resident Ali Al-Marri, a suspected al-Qaeda sleeper agent held in a military brig, to a civilian courthouse.
A criminal prosecutor is wrapping up his own investigation of CIA interrogations.
Monday's acknowledgment of videotape destruction, however, involved a civil lawsuit filed in New York by the American Civil Liberties Union.
"The CIA can now identify the number of videotapes that were destroyed," said the letter submitted in that case by Acting US Attorney Lev Dassin. "Ninety-two videotapes were destroyed."
It is not clear what exactly was on the recordings. The government's letter cites interrogation videos, but the lawsuit against the Defense Department also seeks records related to treatment of detainees, any deaths of detainees and the CIA's sending of suspects overseas, known as "extraordinary rendition".
At the White House, press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters he had not spoken to the president about the report, but he called the news about the videotapes "sad" and said Obama was committed to ending torture while also protecting American values.
Associated Press writers Pamela Hess and Philip Elliott contributed to this report.
The Justice Department released nine legal opinions showing that, after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on the US, former President George W Bush's administration determined that certain constitutional rights would not apply during the coming fight. Within two weeks, government lawyers were discussing ways to wiretap US conversations without warrants.
The Bush administration eventually abandoned many of the legal conclusions, but the documents themselves had been closely held. By releasing them, President Barack Obama continued a housecleaning of the previous administration's most contentious policies.
"Too often over the past decade, the fight against terrorism has been viewed as a zero-sum battle with our civil liberties," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a speech a few hours before the documents were released. "Not only is that school of thought misguided, I fear that in actuality it does more harm than good."
The Obama administration also acknowledged in court documents on Monday that the CIA destroyed 92 videos involving terror suspects, including interrogations, far more than had been known. Congressional Democrats and other critics have charged that some of the harsh interrogation techniques amounted to torture, a contention Bush and other of his officials rejected.
The new administration pledged on Monday to begin turning over documents related to the videos to a federal judge and to make as much information public as possible.
Broader exercises of federal power
The legal memos written by the Bush administration's Office of Legal Counsel show a government grappling with how to wage war on terror in a fast-changing world. The conclusion, reiterated in page after page of documents, was that the president had broad authority to set aside constitutional rights.
Fourth Amendment protections against unwarranted search and seizure, for instance, did not apply in the US as long as the president was combating terror, the Justice Department said in an October 23, 2001, memo.
"First Amendment speech and press rights may also be subordinated to the overriding need to wage war successfully," Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo wrote, adding later: "The current campaign against terrorism may require even broader exercises of federal power domestically."
On September 25, 2001, Yoo discussed possible changes to the laws governing wiretaps for intelligence gathering. In that memo, he said the government's interest in keeping the nation safe following the terrorist attacks might justify warrantless searches.
That memo did not specifically attempt to justify the government's warrantless wiretapping programme, but it provided part of the foundation.
Yoo, now a professor at the University of California at Berkeley School of Law, did not return messages seeking comment.
The memos reflected a belief within the Bush administration that the president had broad powers that could not be checked by Congress or the courts. That stance, in one form or another, became the foundation for many polices: holding detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; eavesdropping on US citizens without warrants; using tough new CIA interrogation tactics; and locking US citizens in military brigs without charges.
92 videotapes destroyed
Obama has pledged to close the Guantanamo Bay prison within a year. He halted the CIA's intensive interrogation programme. And last week, prosecutors moved the terrorism case against US resident Ali Al-Marri, a suspected al-Qaeda sleeper agent held in a military brig, to a civilian courthouse.
A criminal prosecutor is wrapping up his own investigation of CIA interrogations.
Monday's acknowledgment of videotape destruction, however, involved a civil lawsuit filed in New York by the American Civil Liberties Union.
"The CIA can now identify the number of videotapes that were destroyed," said the letter submitted in that case by Acting US Attorney Lev Dassin. "Ninety-two videotapes were destroyed."
It is not clear what exactly was on the recordings. The government's letter cites interrogation videos, but the lawsuit against the Defense Department also seeks records related to treatment of detainees, any deaths of detainees and the CIA's sending of suspects overseas, known as "extraordinary rendition".
At the White House, press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters he had not spoken to the president about the report, but he called the news about the videotapes "sad" and said Obama was committed to ending torture while also protecting American values.
Associated Press writers Pamela Hess and Philip Elliott contributed to this report.
