FBI agents did not abuse detainees, report says
Posted on Tuesday, May 20, 2008 10:56 AM ET
By Pete Williams, NBC News Justice Correspondent
The Justice Department's Inspector General said he can find no evidence that FBI agents participated in the abuse of detainees held outside the U.S. Instead, according to a report out this morning, FBI agents reported to their superiors that they were concerned about harsh interrogation methods used by the Defense Department and CIA.
In response, FBI officials told their agents not to take part in any of those sessions.
"The vast majority of the FBI agents deployed in military zones continued to adhere to FBI policies and separated themselves from other agencies' interrogators," the report by DOJ Inspector General Glenn Fine said.
The most commonly reported technique used by non-FBI interrogators at Guantanamo Bay was sleep deprivation (prohibited under military policy) or sleep disruption. Defense Department employees used loud music, blinking lights, prolonged shackling in uncomfortable positions, or holding detainees in very cold or very hot rooms, the report said.
FBI agents also witnessed the use of growling dogs, twisting back thumbs, using women to touch detainees in a sexual manner, and wrapping detainees' heads in duct tape. Sleep deprivation was also reported by FBI agents assigned to Afghanistan and Iraq. In Iraq, they also reported hooding during interrogation. But the FBI's agents said they did not see the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison, because they occurred at night when FBI personnel were not allowed in.
While praising the FBI for its refusal to use harsh methods, the report said the FBI's leadership was slow to provide guidance to its agents on what to do in these situations. And even when it did, the IG said the guidance was not explicit on which methods were forbidden under military rules.
