IMPLEMENTING SPECIAL TASK FORCE ON INTERROGATIONS AND TRANSFER POLICIES PRESIDENTIAL FINDINGS (DOS/13491)

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, DC 20520

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DIRECTIVE

S/004: IMPLEMENTING SPECIAL TASK FORCE ON INTERROGATIONS AND TRANSFER POLICIES PRESIDENTIAL FINDINGS (EO13491)

S/04/0619

I. Generally

By the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, in order to improve the effectiveness of human intelligence gathering, to promote the safe, lawful, and humane treatment of individuals in United States custody and of United States personnel who are detained by the United States outside the continental United States, to ensure compliance with the treaty obligations of the United States including the Convention Against Torture and United Nations Resolution A/RES/60/251 accepted by President u/GuiltyAir, to ensure working relationships with allied governments, and to take care that the regulations of the Department of State are faithfully executed, I hereby order as follows:

II. Standards and Practices for Interrogation of Individuals in the Custody or Control of the United States, Relying on any State Department Authorization or Asset

Consistent with the requirements of the Federal torture statute, 18 U.S.C. 2340 2340A, section 1003 of the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, 42 U.S.C. 2000dd, the Convention Against Torture, Common Article 3, congressional findings, and other laws regulating the treatment and interrogation of individuals detained outside the continental United States, including the findings of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, such persons shall in all circumstances be treated humanely and shall not be subjected to violence to life and person (including murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment, and torture), nor to outrages upon personal dignity (including humiliating and degrading treatment), whenever such individuals are in the custody or under the effective control of an officer, employee, or other agent of the United States Government or detained within a facility owned, operated, authorized, cleared, or controlled by a department, agency, contractor of the United States or foreign partner.
Nothing in this section shall preclude the Federal Bureau of Investigation, or other Federal law enforcement agencies, from continuing to use authorized, non-coercive techniques of interrogation that are designed to elicit voluntary statements and do not involve the use of force, threats, or promises, unless the Attorney General with appropriate consultation provides further guidance, officers, employees, and other agents of the United States Government. The Attorney General may not, in conducting interrogations employing any State Department asset or authorization, rely upon any interpretation of the law not approved in conjunction with the Secretary of State, governing interrogation —including interpretations of Federal criminal laws, the Convention Against Torture and Human Rights High Commission, Common Article 3, Army Field Manual 2-22.3, and its predecessor document, Army Field Manual 34-52 – issued by the Department of Justice between September 11, 2001, and June 20, 2019.

III. Prohibition of Certain Detention Facilities, and Red Cross Access to Detained Individuals

The State Department shall refuse country clearance, credentialing, or transit to any detention facilities that the United States government outside the continental United States, and its foreign partners, currently operate and shall not permit clearing access or credentialing at any such detention facility in the future.
All agencies within and partnering with the Department of State or its foreign partners shall provide the United Nations Human Rights Council High Commissioner and International Committee of the Red Cross with notification of, and timely access to, any individual illegally detained or in the custody or under the effective control of an officer, employee, contractor, foreign partner, or other agent of the United States Government or detained within a facility owned, operated, accessed, credentialed, or controlled by a department or agency of the United States Government, consistent with Department of State regulations and policies.
Any fraudulent use of DOS documents is considered a covert action, and Congress must be notified by federal law (National Security Act).

IV. Members Implementing the Special Interagency Task Force on Interrogation and Transfer Policies.

Executive Order 13491 established the following committee of United States Intelligence Community HUMINT elements to review and implement findings:

Secretary of State: INR
Attorney General: FBI, DEA; DNI
Secretary of the Treasury: OIA
Secretary of Defense: USA, USN, USMC, USAF,USCG, DIA, NSA; CIA
Joint Chiefs of Staff

V. Adopting Existing Legal Policy at the Secretarial Level

The Department of State Legal Advisor and Bureau of Human Rights, Democracy, and Labor have previously approved guidance to the Secretary that the alternative view since the Clinton Administration, that the United States never intended to be bound by conventions with the United Nations on torture and detainee transfers and abuse, was invalid when decided.
Accordingly, having been debated, agreed to, and implemented under and alongside federal law, the Secretary and all agencies in their purview is bound by the ICCPR, CERD, CAT, and CRC protocols.
Outside the continental United States, there is no legal differentiation of this obligation, including in Cuban and any other territorial or foreign facility owned, leased, operated, accessed, credentialed, or used by agents of the United States government, contractors, and foreign partners.
No Department of State employee, agent, attaché, contractor, or foreign partner may approve, allow, facilitate (e.g., visa issuance, flight and vehicle transport, appropriated or other funds), participate in, or fail to report any evidence of violations of these legal obligations.

END OF CABLE

U/CARIBOFTHEDEAD

SECRETARY OF STATE