GAP Homeland Security Director Jesselyn Radack Submits Testimony
(Washington) – Today at 10 a.m., the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing entitled Improving Detainee Policy: Handling Terrorism Detainees within the American Justice System. The Government Accountability Project’s (GAP) new Homeland Security Director, Jesselyn Radack, has been asked to submit written testimony to the committee. The hearing will take place in Dirksen Senate Building, 226.
Radack was the Justice Department ethics advisor in the case of “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh. In 2001, she informed the Justice Department Criminal Division, which was advising the FBI in Afghanistan, that Lindh could not be interrogated without his counsel. Days later, upon learning her advise was ignored, she recommended that the interview be sealed and used only for national security purposes or intelligence-gathering, but not criminal prosecution. This advice was also ignored. Lindh was tortured and prosecuted.
Radack will be available to speak with media at the hearing to address her concerns with the current handling policy, and recommend changes to be made.
Earlier this week, Radack published an op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer questioning a recent Justice Department report detailing how the FBI challenged interrogation techniques of terrorism prisoners. Radack’s piece pointed out that the report completely fails to mention the FBI’s knowledge of and inaction to stop the torture of Lindh.
To view Radack’s op-ed from Monday’s Philadelphia Inquirer, click here.