The ACLU has filed papers asking a New York District Judge to find the CIA in contempt of previous orders he made.
The ACLU had previously brought a FOIA complaint concerning CIA torture documents in the Southern District of New York. The Court had ordered the CIA to produce or identify all records pertaining to the treatment of detainees in its custody. Despite the court’s ruling, the CIA never produced the tapes or even acknowledged their existence. CIA Director Michael Hayden has now publicly acknowledged that the CIA had made the tapes in 2002 but destroyed them in 2005.
Thus, the ACLU is asking the Court to find the CIA in contempt over the destruction of tapes that were within the scope of its previous order, but never released or even acknowledged. Aside and apart from the political ramifications of the destruction of these tapes, this is an interesting and somewhat novel FOIA case. The case law that develops may be something that is cited for years to come (if future administrations destroy material that had previously been the subject of FOIA requests/Court Orders--something that I, for one, hope isn't a frequent occurrence in the future).
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