It is the stance of GAP’s Homeland Security program that the use of torture and “enhanced interrogation techniques” are illegal under domestic and international law, and that there is no sufficient legal justification for the treatment of so-called “enemy combatant” detainees the federal government has employed in recent years. GAP’s Homeland Security program supports fairness and due process for all persons in U.S. custody and advocates to end indefinite preventive detention, halt extraordinary rendition, and close the Guantanamo Bay detention center and “black site” secret prisons.
GAP has represented several whistleblower clients who have exposed their own false imprisonment and mistreatment by government officials. Some individuals were held against their will in Iraq after trying to help expose illegal arms dealings – these innocent American citizens were held, questioned, and mistreated for months incommunicado. Their families worried about their well-being for months, having no idea what happened to them. These citizens were interrogated for prolonged periods of time and denied access to counsel or any court to challenge their detentions. After being released after several months (having never been charged with any crime), GAP represents them in pending lawsuits against the government.
GAP also continues to monitor and speak out against the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel’s shoddy and flawed reasoning permitting “enhanced interrogation techniques” and unprecedented assertions of Executive power. GAP has directly filed or assisted in filing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for the infamous memos that “justified” these actions.
Policies that implement real consequences for government wrongdoing are critical to preventing repetition of the mistakes made after 9/11. GAP persistently campaigns for those who implemented abusive or illegal policies to be held professionally accountable, and criminally and civilly accountable where appropriate, no matter how prominent a government position they have occupied.
