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"pose[d] a continuing, serious threat of violence or death to U.S. persons and interests or… [we]re planning terrorist activities." The CIA maintained such poor records of its detainees in Country during this period that the CIA remains unable to determine the number and identity of the individuals it detained. The full details of the CIA interrogations there remain largely unknown, as DETENTION SITE COBALT was later found to have not reported multiple uses of sleep deprivation, required standing, loud music, sensory deprivation, extended isolation, reduced quantity and quality of food, nudity, and "rough treatment" of CIA detainees.[1]
- 3. CIA Headquarters Recommends That Untrained Interrogators in Country Use the CIA's Enhanced Interrogation Techniques on Ridha al-Najjar
(TS// //NF) Ridha al-Najjar was the first CIA detainee to be held at DETENTION SITE COBALT. Al-Najjar, along with Hassan Muhammad Abu Bakr and a number of other individuals, was arrested in Karachi, Pakistan, after raids conducted by Pakistan in late May 2002.[2] Al-Najjar was identified by the CIA as a former bodyguard for Usama bin Laden,[3] and was rendered with Abu Bakr to CIA custody at a Country detention facility on June , 2002.[4] Ridha al-Najjar was transferred to DETENTION SITE COBALT on September , 2002.[5]
(TS// //NF) While the CIA was describing to the Department of Justice why it needed to use the CIA's enhanced interrogation techniques against Abu Zubaydah, a parallel internal discussion at the CIA was taking place regarding Ridha al-Najjar. An ALEC Station cable from a CTC officer stated that, on June 27, 2002:
- "ALEC/HQS held a strategy session regarding the interrogation of high priority detainee Ridha Ahmed al-Najjar in [Country ]. The goal of the session was to review the progress of the interrogation to date and to devise a general plan as to how best to proceed once the new [Country ] detention/debriefing facility [i.e., DETENTION SITE COBALT] is completed."[6]
(TS// //NF) The meeting participants included individuals who were also involved in discussions related to Abu Zubaydah's interrogation, including deputy chief of ALEC Station, , CTC Legal , and the chief of
- ↑ The full Committee Study includes a CIA photograph of a waterboard at DETENTION SITE COBALT. While there are no records of the CIA using the waterboard at COBALT, the waterboard device in the photograph is surrounded by buckets, with a bottle of unknown pink solution (filled two thirds of the way to the top) and a watering can resting on the wooden beams of the waterboard. In meetings between the Committee Staff and the CIA in the summer of 2013, the CIA was unable to explain the details of the photograph, to include the buckets, solution, and watering can, as well as the waterboard's presence at COBALT.
- ↑ 11357 ; 11443
- ↑ 178155
- ↑ 11542
- ↑ 27054
- ↑ ALEC (162135Z JUL 02). Although the plans at the time were for DETENTION SITE COBALT to be owned and operated by the Country government, the detention site was controlled and overseen by the CIA and its officers from the day it became operational in September 2002.
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