The American Civil Liberties Union has recently filed a lawsuit on behalf of three prisoners of the United States Central Intelligence Agency who had been subjected to the government’s “enhanced interrogation” program. The defendants in the lawsuit, James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, are psychologists who allegedly designed and oversaw the CIA interrogation program.
According to the United States Senate Intelligence Committee’s report released earlier this year, the United States government paid the psychologists’ company $81 million to develop and oversee the “enhanced interrogation” program. Under the terms of the company’s contract with the United States government, the U.S. is required to defend the company in the lawsuit.
It is highly likely that the psychologists will ask the court to throw out the lawsuit on the grounds that they are immune from lawsuits under various legal doctrines. It is also highly probable that the United States government, which was not included in the lawsuit, will ask the court for permission to “intervene” and become a party to the suit, and also likely that the United States will ask the government to throw out the suit because pursuing it would necessarily involve publication of government secrets.
For a more detailed explanation of this matter, see the article located here.
