Executive Orders EO 13440 Executive Order 13440 of July 20, 2007 Interpretation of the Geneva Conventions Common Article 3 as Applied to a Program of Detention and Interrogation Operated by the Central Intelligence Agency By the authority vested in me as President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Authorization for Use of Military Force (Public Law 107-40), the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (Public Law 109-366), and section 30\177 of title 3, United States Code, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. General Determinations. (a) The United States is engaged in an armed conflict with al Qaeda, the Tallban, and associated forces. Members of al Qaeda were responsible for the attacks on the United States of Sep- tember \177, 200% and for many other terrorist attacks, including against the United States, its personnel, and its allies throughout the world. These forces continue to fight the United States and its allies in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere, and they continue to plan additional acts of terror through- out the world. On February 7, 2002, I determined for the United States that members of al Qaeda, the Tallban, and associated forces are unlawful enemy combatants who are not entitled to the protections that the Third Geneva Convention provides to prisoners of war. I hereby reaffirm that de- termination. (b) The Military Commissions Act defines certain prohibitions of Common Article 3 for United States law, and it reaffirms and reinforces the authority of the President to interpret the meaning and application of the Geneva Conventions. Sec. 2. Definitions. As used in this order: (a) "Common Article 3" means Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. (b) "Geneva Conventions" means: (i) the Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field, done at Geneva August 12, \177949 (6 UST 3114); (it) the Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea, done at Geneva August 12, 1949 (6 UST 3217); (iii) the Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, done at Geneva August 12, 1949 (6 UST 3316); and (iv) the Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, done at Geneva August 12, 1949 (6 UST 3516). (c) "Cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment" means the cruel, unusual, and inhumane treatment or punishment prohibited by the Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. Sec. 3. Compliance of u Central Intel]igence Agency Detention and Interro- gation Program with Common Article 3. (a) Pursuant to the authority of the 229
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