Did “Enhanced Interrogation” Break the CIA’s Own Rules on “Human Experimentation”?

The Central Intelligence Agency’s use of so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques” on detainees in the aftermath of 9/11 may have violated its own guidelines around medical ethics and “human experimentation,” according to a new report in the Guardian.

Previously classified documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union and published by the Guardian on Monday say the agency “shall not sponsor, contract for, or conduct research on human subjects,” except in accordance with guidelines issued by the Department of Health and Human Services.

The documents also reveal that the CIA’s director has the power to “approve, modify, or disapprove all proposals pertaining to human subject research.” As the Guardian report notes: 

The leeway provides the director, who has never in the agency’s history been a medical doctor, with significant influence over limitations the U.S. government sets to preserve safe, humane and ethical procedures on people.

CIA director George Tenet approved abusive interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, designed by CIA contractor psychologists. He further instructed the agency’s health personnel to oversee the brutal interrogations – the beginning of years of controversy, still ongoing, about U.S. torture as a violation of medical ethics.

In 2013, a Columbia University task force found that medical professionals working for the CIA “played a critical role in reviewing and approving forms of torture, including waterboarding, as well as in advising the Department of Justice that ‘enhanced interrogation’ methods, such as extended sleep deprivation and waterboarding that are recognized as forms of torture, were medically acceptable.”

A report published in April also alleged that the American Psychological Association secretly collaborated with the Bush administration, the CIA and the Department of Defense to shore up the legal and ethical justification for the program, according to The New York Times.

Since they were revealed, the CIA’s methods have been widely criticized and labeled as torture, with even President Barack Obama admitting in August, “We tortured some folks.” In December, a scathing review by the Senate Intelligence Committee concluded that the CIA’s interrogation program was brutal, mismanaged and also did not produce intelligence that couldn’t have been obtained otherwise.

Although a 2009 executive order signed by Obama ended the use of torture by the government, lawmakers including Senators John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) want to enshrine the ban in law. Last week, they sponsored an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would formally outlaw the use of torture by any government agency.

Related Film: Secrets, Politics and Torture:

FRONTLINE investigates the secret history of the CIA’s controversial “enhanced interrogation” methods.