The Trump White House appears to have backed off for now on its consideration of reopening overseas "black site" prisons, where the CIA once tortured terrorism suspects, after a leaked draft executive order prompted bipartisan pushback from Congress.
The White House recently circulated among National Security Council staff a revised version of the draft order on detainees that deleted language contemplating a revival of the CIA prisons, according to several officials.
The draft order retains other parts of the original that focus on making greater use of the military's Guantanamo Bay prison, which the Obama administration had tried to close. Those sections, reflecting repeated vows from President Donald Trump, include a call to bring newly captured terrorism detainees there and to stop any more transfers.
Senate Democrats and human rights activists, meanwhile, are rallying against Trump's selection of an officer linked to enhanced interrogation to be deputy director of the CIA. Gina Haspel oversaw the brutal interrogation of two terrorism suspects at a black site in Thailand and later played a role in the destruction of video documenting the harsh treatment, The Hill reported.
New York Times
