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CIA Black Sites

Black sites refer to the detainment facilities used for the enhanced interrogation of enemy combatants in the custody of the Central Intelligence Agency. The sites were established in retaliation to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States by Al-Qaeda that launched the beginning of the War on Terror. The Central Intelligence Agency and the United States Government have yet to directly confirm or deny the existence of the black sites or discuss the operations that occur at those sites.

Map of Countries Associated with the CIA Rendition Program

Origins

After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, President George W. Bush reportedly authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to design and implement secret detention facilities for the capture and interrogation of suspected terrorists. At this time, Bush publicly sanctioned the use of “extraordinary rendition” to protect national security such that the Central Intelligence Agency was given power to use any means necessary to gather information through interrogation. In doing so, it allowed the United States to forcibly obtain information from the detainees. The establishment of these sites in international territories puts the actions executed outside the jurisdiction of American law. Such enhanced interrogation methods have been justified by notions of preemptive measures to prevent attacks on the United States like the events of the September 11 attacks. According to Joseph Cofer Black, the Director of the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center from 1999 to May of 2002,  there is a “‘before’ 9/11 and ‘after’ 9/11. After 9/11 the gloves come off”. The Central Intelligence Agency allegedly opened its first secret prison, or “black site”, in Thailand along with several others in various countries in the years following. The prisons were designed for housing high-value targets suspected of terrorism during the interrogation and overall screening component of the detention process. Such sites were integral to the CIA's initiative to extract general intelligence and information regarding imminent threats to the public. The layout of the sites were designed with an emphasis on isolation such that "each detainee's interaction with the outside world was intended to be limited to the brief contact with the guards and more extensive contact with his CIA interrogators" because "this allows the CIA personnel to control almost all aspects of the detainees' existence".

Planning

In early 2002, two psychologists, James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, published a paper that described how the US intelligence officers could overcome the resistance of Al Qaeda members to their interrogation methods. Jessen went on to present their findings to the Pentagon while Mitchell pitched their plan to the CIA. At first, the psychologists proposed methods that did not include any physical pressures that would violate the Geneva Conventions. However, in the following months, Jessen put together an "Exploitation Draft Plan", a document that described the use of a "pre-selected, undisclosed non-US, unsuspected, secure location" for procedures that would become the CIA's standard enhanced interrogation techniques such as personal verbal attacks or threats on the detainee's family, failures, and other vulnerabilities.

Controversy

Existence

The United States Government has yet to divulge any information regarding the specific operations of the black sites, and no United States representatives have directly confirmed the existence of the sites themselves. However, on September 6, 2006, George Bush is said to have indirectly acknowledged the existence of the CIA's black sites when he publicly addressed the prisoner transfer of “high value” detainees to Guantanamo Bay detention camp. In addition to the sites themselves, some of the individuals held captive at these sites do not technically exist legally. Those detainees are commonly referred to as "ghost detainees", captives whose identities remain secret and anonymous.

Legality

Map of Countries Who Signed the UN Convention Against Torture- Signed but Not Ratified (light green) Signed and Ratified (dark green)

The legality of the alleged Central Intelligence Agency black sites is widely debated. The United Nations Convention Against Torture signed by the United States in February 1985 explicitly prohibits the transfer of a prisoner to the jurisdiction of another country where one will be subject to torture. Later, the War Crimes Act of 1996 permitted the U.S. federal courts to prosecute violations of the Geneva Conventions, specifically severe war crimes such as “inhumane treatment” and “willful killing” committed both outside or inside the United States and its territories. The United Nations Convention Against Torture would question the legality of the black sites such that the detainees are transferred to interrogation facilities in various countries where they are subject to intensive interrogation methods. Furthermore, Section 2340 of title 18 of the United States Code dictates what constitutes torture, and 2340A specifically determines the punishment for violations of Section 2340 and defines the situations in which the United States has jurisdiction. The United States Code would define the legality of the black site methods and determine whether or not the interrogation methods used are defined as torture, and it would dictate if the CIA's actions are justified in a court of law. The standards of interrogation conduct are primarily bound by Sections 2340-2340A of title 18 of the United States Code in conjunction with the United Nations Convention Against Torture.

Criticisms

Critics of the Central Intelligence Agency's methods of enhanced interrogation claim the United Nations Convention Against Torture is violated by the operations of the black sites. However, according to a legal review conducted by the US Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel, “because the acts of inflicting torture are extreme, there is a significant range of acts that though they might constitute cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment fail to rise to the level of torture”. Furthermore, the review concluded that the circumstances surrounding the enhanced interrogation methods and the President’s Commander-in-Chief powers may be unconstitutional, but “necessity or self-defense could provide justifications that would eliminate any criminal liability”. Additionally, Executive Order 13340 signed by President Bush in February of 2002 declared that the Geneva Conventions no longer applied to the suspected al-Qaeda members. The Taliban and al-Qaeda detainees did not qualified as "prisoners of war", and were, therefore, not applicable to the laws governed by the Geneva Conventions.

Suspected Black Sites

Thailand ("Detention Site Green")

The first alleged black site, referred to as "Detention Site Green" or "Cat's Eye", was supposedly located in Thailand and was thought to be established as a facility for enhanced interrogation of detainees captured during a joint United States and Pakistani military raid on several Al-Qaeda safe houses in Faisalabad, Pakistan.

Abu Zubaydah

One of the captives, Abu Zubaydah, was believed to be among Al-Qaeda's top-ranked lieutenants. Once in custody of the Central Intelligence Agency, he became one of the first subjects of the enhanced interrogation methods adopted after the declaration of the War on Terror. Another detainee thought to have been kept in custody in Thailand was Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, an alleged member of Al-Qaeda suspected of being involved in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, located off the coast of Yemen. Information released from the Central Intelligence Agency cables detailed the interrogation methods Nashiri was subject to while at the Thailand site including multiple waterboarding sessions, time spent confined in small box, and forcibly shaving his head and beard as a form of embarrassment. The reality of the site remains controversial. Both United States and Thai officials have denied the existence of the facility, but a senior Thai national security official informed the BBC that such a facility did exist and was located within the Royal Thai Air Force Base in Udon Thani. According to a report published by the Open Society Justice Initiative in 2013, a total of ten Central Intelligence Agency detainees were held in Thailand before being transported to U.S. military prisons on Guantanamo Bay and other countries.

Despite this claim, the location of the site is debated. It has also been suspected that the site was located at Ramasun Station, a field station established during the Vietnam War by the Army Security Agency.

Development

One CIA senior official stated the black site was initially "just a chicken coop we remodeled". The site was gradually renovated to contain a set of cells with hidden microphones and cameras. The cells were described as being white with no windows or any other sources of natural light. A white curtain outside the interrogation room would prevent the prisoner from seeing anything outside the interrogation room aside from his cell bars.The guards were instructed to wear black uniforms with gloves, goggles, and balaclavas to cover any exposed skin to keep their first prisoner, Zubaydah from developing a relationship with or feeling any sense of human connection to the guards in addition to preventing him from identifying them. The elements implemented into the black site's regular procedures were intended to instill a sense of hopelessness such as the placement of a stereo playing rock music outside the detainee's cell. By July 18, 2002, the site contained two constructed confinement boxes and a mobile 'walling' wall that could be put together and placed in each cell. Both Mitchell and Jessen guided the site's security guards in the proper techniques for each of the interrogative methods such as moving Zubaydah in and out of the large and small confinement boxes.

Conditions and Experimentation

As the first established CIA black site, Detention Site Green served in some capacity as an experimental interrogative facility. Shortly after Zubaydah's capture, CIA members discussed the development of personal interrogative techniques that would cause a psychological dependence on the primary interrogator. As a result, a list of twelve "potential physical and psychological pressures" was compiled to test with Zubaydah. The list included walling, cramped confinement, stress positions, sleep deprivation, use of insects, mock burials, facial holds, facial slaps, and waterboarding. Even though many of these methods would become commonly used when interrogating future subjects, many of them were designed to cater to Zubaydah's vulnerabilities. For instance, the use of insects played on a personal fear and forcing him to wear a diaper challenged his value of cleanliness and a particular sensitivity to feelings of loss of dignity. With each interrogative strategy, Zubaydah was extensively monitored to ascertain the effects of the different methods as well as different durations of the methods on his physical and psychological states. For instance, when the use of a confinement box was first authorized, the set constraints were that the methods would not be used more than three times with a maximum time of the three hours per instance. With each time Zubaydah was sent to the confinement box or subjected to other interrogative methods, he was monitored by psychologists to determine the effects on his personality and overall mental wellbeing and would adjust accordingly. Strategies for rewarding cooperation to encourage sustained compliance were also tested. For instance, the interrogators would switch the subject's chair depending on his level of cooperation to determine if it was an effective method. If the detainee was cooperative, he would be given a relatively comfortable padded chair instead of a lawn chair, which was brought in if he was less cooperative.

Closure

The increasing scale of the operations of the CIA detention facility in Afghanistan, Detention Site Cobalt, CIA officials began to question to purpose of the Thai site. As thoughts of closing the site began to gain momentum, information regarding the existence of the site began to spread to the public. By April of 2002, multiple local officials became aware of Zubaydah's presence in the country, and by November 2002, the New York Times became aware as well. Despite the CIA's prevention of the public news organization release of the information regarding the site, the media's awareness ultimately led to the official closure of Detention Site Green.

Afghanistan ("Detention Site Cobalt", "Detention Site Orange"," Detention Site Brown", and "Detention Site Gray")

Detention Site Cobalt

In Afghanistan outside of Kabul, the Central Intelligence Agency was thought to have run a black site known as the "Salt Pit", "Cobalt", or "The Dark Prison", an old brick factory converted into a detention center. The Salt Pit is the only Central Intelligence Agency black site to have a known fatality occur within its custody. Gul Rahman was a terror suspect captured in October of 2002 along with Dr. Ghairat Baheer. In a statement during an interview with NBC, Dr. Baheer said he was taken to the Salt Pit where he was placed in stress positions, stripped and left to lay on bare concrete, and was subject to numerous sleep deprivation tactics such as constant loud music playing in the small cells. According to Dr. Baheer, Rahman was separated from the captive group and was not seen again. United States officials have said that Rahman endured especially harsh treatment due to his violent and uncooperative behavior once in custody. The exact circumstances surrounding Rahman's death in the Salt Pit are unclear, but a Central Intelligence Agency medic at the Afghan site concluded that he had died from hypothermia alone in his cell. The news of his death was released by multiple news outlets that condemned the actions of the CIA and publicized the nature of the secretive, overseas interrogation facilities. Former and current Central Intelligence Agency officials have said that the Salt Pit was intended to serve as a "host-nation facility", an Afghan prison staffed by Afghan officers. This was a common tactic utilized by the CIA as a black site designated as an Afghan facility legally protected the United States from allegations regarding the events that occur in the facility. The site was reportedly at full capacity by mid-October of 2002 such that the facility had held almost every prisoner taken into CIA custody by that time aside from Zubaydah, who was in Thailand at the time. Throughout the entirety of the site's operation, Detention Site Cobalt held over half of all the CIA detainees. Other secret Central Intelligence Agency detention sites in Afghanistan have been identified as "Detention Site Orange", "Detention Site Brown", and "Detention Site Gray", but information regarding those sites is largely unconfirmed

Detainee Conditions

Despite the detention facility not having a standard written set of operating procedures, a declassified memorandum written for the CIA Director of Operations described the daily occurrences and organization of the site. Once the prisoners are in CIA custody, they are brought to the black sites with both their hands and feet bound with blindfolds and hoods placed over their heads. To ensure total sensor deprivation to prevent even the slightest clue of where they were, officers would place earplugs in their ears. In addition, the detainees are handled by the guards with complete silence by only using hand signals as communication. The prisoners are then forced to change into sweatsuits and adult diapers. the adult diapers were intended to be a form of sanitary precaution in addition to a measure of humiliation. Once the detainees are brought to their cells, "the manner in which a prisoner is shackled is based on his level of cooperation and the danger he presents to the guards. The prisoners are housed in unheated conditions and in total darkness to disorient them and distort their sense of time. In conjunction, music is played loudly for twenty-four hours a day to inhibit any forms of communication between the detainees and prevent sleep. The most prevalent sleep deprivation technique involved chaining the prisoner to a bar that spans across the ceiling of the cell by one or both wrists to prohibit him from laying or sitting down.

At Detention Site Cobalt or Cobalt Station, the cells are described as bare with only a waste bucket in each of the cells. In addition to the cluster of twenty concrete cells, the facility reportedly had a second section containing three interrogation rooms, a guard room, a staff room, and a 'conditioning room'. As the interrogation process progressed detainees are given rewards in return for compliance and information. The rewards were often earplugs to block out the blaring music, a sleeping mat, a light, or extra blankets. Additionally, a report stated that the ultimate reward consisted of a "luxury room" that had been built in the facility with a rocking chair, a table, a light, and carpeted floors. The rewarded prisoners were said to not be punished but instead had rewards taken away if they became uncooperative.

Multiple accounts from past detention site prisoners confirm the extensive torture the detainees were subjected to while held at the site. During the first couple months of the site's operation, standard interrogation guidelines or methods were given to the staff, so the officers were "left to their own devices when working with detainees". As a result, they each developed their own operating procedures, which often included combinations of sleep deprivation, solitary confinement, forced nudity, and dousing with cold water.

Closure

The CIA station in Afghanistan reviewed the site's records and discovered that they were holding numerous detainees that had not been debriefed for months such that many of them no longer had any relevant intelligence value for the CIA. In some of the discovered cases, the CIA did not have enough evidence against them to continue their detainment. In January 2004, the International Committee of the Red Cross told US authorities that they found that the CIA detainees in Afghanistan were being held in isolation for extended periods and time while being subjected to ill-treatment and deprivation of many things necessary for wellbeing. As a result, the CIA released a total of eight prisoners over an eight-month period from January to August of 2004, and they transferred another seven detainees to foreign custody during the same time period. The CIA then closed the Dark Prison and moved the remaining detainees to a new CIA site: Detention Site Orange.

Detention Site Gray

The Senate Committee Study acknowledged the existence of Detention Site Gray, which reportedly held eight detainees over the course of an eleven-month period from January 2003 to December 2003. Little information is known about the site.

Detention Site Orange

The site opened in April of 2004. The first prisoners arrived after a mass transfer from Detention Site Cobalt on April 24, 2004. At least nine men were recorded to have been moved at this point. Their flight from Cobalt reportedly lasted several hours, but the plane was most likely circling to disorient the prisoners. Many of the detainees were imprisoned at the site for anywhere between four months and almost three years. Eighteen prisoners were reportedly held at the site from April 2004 to September 2006. Some of the site prisoners identified include Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Laid Saedi, Majid Khan, Khalid al-Sharif, Mohammed al-Shoroeiya, and Abu Faraj al-Libi.

Development and Detainee Conditions

The facility was described as having much better conditions than the previous Afghan site with heating, air conditioning, proper lighting, showers, conventional plumbing, and laundry appliances. However, the detainees were kept in smaller cells with waste buckets because they were not granted access to the proper toilets at the facility. An Office of the Inspector General Audit found that the detainees were kept in "solitary confinement in climate, controlled, lighted, above-ground, window-less cells". Even though the site was thought of as an improvement, the ill-treatment and severe interrogation techniques still occurred. Both Mohammed al-Shoroeiya and Khalid al-Sharif say hey were chained to the walls and constant loud music blared through each of the cell's speakers. Rather than using the heating and cooling units for maintaining comfortable temperatures, they were used as modes of punishment and reward based on prisoner cooperation. The mental health of the detainees showed evidence of severe psychological trauma such that acts of self-harm became common such as slashing wrists and refusing food. The response of the guards in retaliation to these acts of self-harm included forced feeding though tubes forced into the nose until it reached the stomach while their arms and legs were secured to a chair.

Detention Site Brown

Detention Site Brown was reportedly operational from March 2006 to March 2008 and held ten detainees over the course of its operation. Information regarding the opening and closure of the site remains unknown. Starting in February of 2006, the CIA started the process of releasing detainees that no were no longer of value to the CIA to foreign custody. The prisoners kept in CIA custody were reportedly kept more humanely. When describing his time at Detention Site Brown, Khaled Sheikh Mohammed stated the facility had a gym with an opening in the roof, and he was able to see the sun for the first time during his time in CIA custody. Some prisoners were allowed social time in which they could interact with another detainee in a monitored environment.

Poland ("Detention Site Blue")

Perimeter of a Foreign Intelligence Agency Training Center in Stare Kiejkuty

Aleksander Kwasniewski, the President of Poland from 1995 to 2005, has been known to say the territory village of Stare Kiejkuty in Poland was once the location of a secret Central Intelligence Agency black site. Kwasniewski also maintains the notion that any activities that occurred at the site were not in violation of Polish law. In the case of Al Nashiri v. Poland, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri testified that he along with Abu Zubaydah were flown with the United States Federal Aviation Authority from the detention facility in Thailand to the Szymany military base in Poland in December 2002. Both Al Nashiri and Zubaydah in their respective cases discussed that during their time in custody in Stare Kiejkuty, they were subject to various forms of ill-treatment, alleged abuse, and remained isolated from any personal contacts and the outside world. In November-December 2005, the Parliamentary Committee of Special Services conducted an investigation into the allegations that a Central Intelligence Agency black site existed and enhanced interrogation methods as a part of the High-Value Detainee Programme were carried out in Poland. The investigation and the findings were not made public. The only public statement made in regards to the investigation was made by the Polish government stating that the results were inconclusive. The site was closed in September of 2003. The closure date has been confirmed by Polish authorities.

Development

When the CIA sent out a message to foreign intelligence services stating their need for a detention facility in a classified location, Agencja Wywiadu, the Polish intelligence agency, said they had a couple buildings available on one of their training bases about three hours north of Warsaw that could be used on the condition they pay for the improvements needed like security camera installation. The two buildings were originally a large shed and a two-story villa. Both facilities were used to house the CIA detainees. The site reportedly also contained a small gym for the prisoners that had a treadmill and a stationary bike that could be used with special permission that was granted as a reward for cooperation. The site was originally intended to hold two prisoners, but a shortage of facilities led to the construction of five cells with three being proper cells and the other two allegedly being cages.

Detainee Conditions

Approximately, six security personnel worked at the detention site and were collectively responsible for guarding the perimeter and the detainees, maintaining site records, and preparing the three daily meals given to each of the prisoners. The meals were typically cheese sandwiches, beans, rice, fruit, water, vitamins, and a nutritional supplement. A 2003 CIA review of the black site stated the detainees received a medical evaluation every three or so days, bathed once a week, washed their hands before each of their meals, and brushed their teeth once per day. Detention Site Blue possessed relatively improved conditions in comparison to past sites. Despite standards for the acceptable interrogation methods being established by the CIA after the death of Gul Rahman, the prisoners were still subjected to 'unacceptable' torture methods. For instance, Walid bin Attash was reported to have experienced multiple waterboarding sessions, threats of sexual assault, and over 110 hours of sleep deprivation in addition to being hung naked from a ceiling ring for a month in June of 2003.

Polish Involvement

Polish security guarded the perimeter of the site and also helped facilitate the prisoner transfers both to and from the airport, but they had no direct access to the CIA detainees. As Polish authorities grew more aware of the CIA's actions taking place at the site on Polish soil, local officials drafted a document discussing the roles and responsibilities of the CIA and Polish authorities. However, the CIA refused to sign this document, so the local authorities denied the transfer of a CIA detainee to the site, which was later overturned after the intervention of a United States ambassador. An alleged multi-million dollar payment from the CIA to the Polish government alleviated any existing tensions regarding the duration in which the site could be open and how many detainees could be housed there.

Morocco

It was established in the proceedings of Al Nashiri v. Romania that a Central Intelligence Agency black site was located in a forest near Rabat, Morocco. Al Nashiri was allegedly taken from Poland to Morocco to a detention facility in June 2003 where he as kept for about three months before being transferred to the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. According to an article written by the New York Times, Zakaria Moumni, a former kickboxing world champion, was taken from the Rabat airport to a secret detention facility. He told Times that he was held there for four days. In addition to the site's function as a Central Intelligence Agency secret interrogation facility, it has supposedly been used by Moroccan government security forces in similar capacity. At least six prisoners were transferred by the CIA to Moroccan custody. The six reported prisoners were Pacha Wazir, Mustafa al-Madaghi, Binyam Mohamed, Elkassim Britel, Saleh Di'iki, and Ramzi bin al-Shibh. Even though the CIA was granted access to the prisoners for interrogation, Moroccan authorities had complete authority over the men. Moroccan intelligence officials, including Justice Minister Mohamed Bouzoubaa, have denied knowledge of any such facilities in Morocco.

Detainee Conditions

Mustafa al-Madaghi described his cell as below ground level with a small window, which differed from the black sites in other countries that often prevented any natural light from entering the cells. Another different aspect, music was not constantly blaring such that al-Madaghi could hear the screams and voices of the other surrounding detainees. Additionally, he mentions Arabic poetry being written across the cell walls along with the written messages from and names of many of the cell's previous prisoners. Furthermore, Binyam Mohamed described his initial living conditions as a series of houses dug almost underground. Each of the houses had six rooms and were often in clusters of at least five houses. Every house had one interrogation room, one guard room, one empty room, and three rooms for the prisoners.

Closure

In addition to the Moroccan authority detention facilities, the CIA began to consider building their own site. In June of 2003, the CIA station in Morocco decided to offer a multimillion-dollar aid package to support Moroccan intelligence services in an effort to garner their support for the CIA's secret program. In a short-term agreement, while the CIA was planning their own Moroccan facility, the CIA was granted permission to temporarily house al-Nashiri and bin al-Shibh in a local Moroccan detention center, and in return, the CIA promised to wrap up any of its detention programs on Moroccan soil by July 2003. Al-Nashiri and bin al-Shibh were transferred out in September and December of 2003 respectively, which concluded the CIA detainee presence in the country. Despite the construction of their own facility being approved, by February of 2006, it was decommissioned.

Romania ("Detention Site Black")

"Bright Light" and "Detention Site Black" became the code name for a Central Intelligence Agency's black site location in Bucharest, Romania. In the court proceedings of Al Nashiri v. Romania, the court report mentions that after his transfer from the detention site Poland between June 2003 and September 2006, Al Nashiri was held at numerous secret Central Intelligence facilities abroad, which includes a Central Intelligence Agency covert prison in Bucharest. The first detainees to be held at Detention Site Black arrived in September 2003. The first group consisted of five men: Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Yasir al-Jaza-iri, Walid bin Attash, Ammar al-Baluchi, and Samr al-Barq. The Romanian government in Bucharest continued to neither confirm or deny these allegations. However, the European Court of Human Rights examined the evidence presented in the court, which included flight histories and various testimonies of government officials. They concluded that Romania was the host of a Central Intelligence agency black site from its opening in September 2003 and closing in November 2005.

Development and Detainee Conditions

During 2002 and 2003, the CIA negotiated with the Romanian government to open a Romanian black site. Although the specific location of the site is unspecified, the site is said to have been hidden in plain sight rather than hidden in remote areas or in the middle of secure bases. It was reportedly located a few blocks from a major street in the middle of clusters of homes beside train tracks.The site was developed in the basement of the National Registry Office for Classified Information. The CIA site opened in Fall 2003 after Detention Site Blue closed its operations in Poland. The detainees would be driven for around fifteen minutes from the Bucharest airport to the site. They were then taken underground to the facility. The detention center consisted of six cells situated on springs to instill a physical feeling of off-balance and further facilitate disorientation. One of the site's prisoners, Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, gave a personal account of the site. He stated that the prisoners were allowed to keep their clothes on, and their feet were shackled at all times in the cell. Each of the room were about nine feet long and four feet wide with ceramic walls and a few hooks in the ceiling and floor. Detainee accounts support the notion that once transported to Romania, subjects often experiences sustained torture. According to Hassan Ghul, once he arrived at the facility, he was "shaved, barbed, stripped, and placed in the standing position against the wall with his hands above his head", and after he was forced to undergo a fifty-nine-hour long sleep deprivation period. In information obtained from a CIA cable, Janat Gul experienced 'extensive, customized application of "enhanced interrogation techniques"'. Interrogation methods, such as sleep deprivation, stress positions, and walling, were used repeatedly until the detainee began to experience both visual and auditory hallucinations, and reportedly could 'see his wife and children in the mirror and heard their voices in the white noise'. CIA cables mention severe psychological issues developed by the prisoners after the repeated, prolonged interrogation techniques, which included insomnia, severe depression, and anxiety.

Closure

Before its official closure, the CIA became aware that the Washington Post had information regarding the existence of their detention facility in Romania. When the Washington Post published their story revealing the existence of the site to the public on November 2, 2005, United States officials became worried that the public disclosure of the sites would damage their relations with the European Union. Despite the article keeping the locations of the sites within the European Union confidential, a report by the Human Rights Watch identified Poland and Romania as host countries. As a result, Romanian authorities demanded the CIA close the detention site and transfer all remaining prisoners out of the site and off of Romanian soil.

Lithuania ("Detention Site Violet")

Antaviliai

The Central Intelligence Agency allegedly constructed a black site in Antaviliai, a neighborhood in the capital of Lithuania, Vilnius. As described in Abu Zubaydah v. Lithuania, Zubaydah claimed he had been transferred from Rabat to Lithuania in 2005 while still in Central Intelligence Custody. The site in Lithuania is thought to have closed in the beginning of 2006 as a result of a lack of available medical care workers and equipment, and the detainees were transferred to detention facilities in Afghanistan and other countries.

Development and Detainee Conditions

Starting in 2002, the CIA began discussing the construction of a Lithuanian black site with Lithuanian authorities. Lithuania's State Security Department, the country's intelligence service, began Project No. 1, which included constructing and preparing a facility capable of holding prisoners with conditions dictated by the CIA. However, even though the site was completed in 2003, but it was never officially used because the CIA deemed it too small to hole multiple prisoners at a single time. So, the construction plans for a new, larger detention center was approved by the local authorities. Thus, Project No. 2 was implemented in 2004 after the purchase of an old equestrian academy in Antavilai. Lithuanian and CIA officials have been cited saying the facility was originally an indoor riding area, a stable, and a cafe. Thick concrete walls and concrete pads were installed in the riding ring. 'Pods' were built within the structure to house the detainees. Each pod was built with around five or six feet of space in between one another, and each pod contained a bed, shower, and a toilet with separate cells meant for interrogation.The site employees were housed in accommodations in the former stable. While little information is available regarding the treatment of Detention Site Violet's prisoners, Khaled Sheikh Mohammed has mentioned the conditions were better in comparison to the previous sites he was held at with better food, a small gym, and bigger cells.

Closure

A report written by the Office of the Inspector General found that the Lithuanian detention site did not construct a facility to treat the serious medical issues the detainees may already have or develop during their time at the site. Recommendations from the CIA's Office of Medical Services stated that if the specific CIA site did not have the proper resources to treat any mental or physical issues that may arise, the local CIA station must arrange access to facilities within the host country's health care system, but CIA officials were unable to gain local support from the Lithuanian officials was unsuccessful. The next alternative would be to use medical facilities offered by CIA partners, but the quality of the partner treatment facilities was deemed 'unacceptable'. The last resort became the use of the United States Department of Defense medical facilities, but the CIA was denied access. As a result, the site was closed in March 2006.

Official Closing

In January 2009, President Barack Obama ordered the closing of the alleged black sites used by both the Central Intelligence Agency and various European security organizations for the enhanced interrogation of many suspected terrorists. His executive order called for the closing and dismantling of "all permanent detention facilities overseas". As the overseas detention and interrogation facilities were being closed, the detainees were transported to Guantanamo Bay. Although the Central Intelligence Agency's detainment facilities were closed, The United States maintains the ability to hold prisoners internationally at the United States Military facilities, which includes sites run by the Joint Special Operations Command and holding cells on board the United States Navy vessels. In 2011, the Obama administration announced it would be prosecuting a Somali man, Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame, for aiding terrorist groups in Somalia and the Arabian Peninsula after interrogating him for months aboard a United States Navy ship.

Controversy

Despite ordering the closing in President Barack Obama's executive order, whether or not the black sites stopped being used still remains a question. Even though the Central Intelligence Agency's enhanced interrogation program was said to be dismantled, hundreds of "ghost detainees" are reported to remain in the custody of the United States at the Bagram Air Force Base located outside of Kabul, Afghanistan. Some concerns have arisen regarding the fates of the detainees held by the United States when the sites closed given their highly classified status and concerns for national security should they be free to return to their homelands.