Review of Criminal Investigations of Alleged Detainee Abuse
Abstract
Following news media reports of allegations that U.S. personnel were abusing enemy prisoners of war and other detainees held at detention facilities in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, 110 Members of Congress formally requested on May 7, 2004, that the Secretary of Defense have the Inspector General of the Department of Defense (IG DoD) "supervise the investigation of tortured Iraqi prisoners of war, and other reported gross violations of the Geneva Conventions at Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq." In a May 13, 2004, memorandum, the IG DoD announced to the secretaries of the Military Departments the formation of a "multi-disciplinary team within this office to monitor detainee/prisoner abuse allegations, the purpose of which is to facilitate the timely flow of law enforcement sensitive information to senior leaders of the Department of Defense (including the Military Departments)." Following that mandate, the Deputy Inspector General for Inspections and Policy (now Policy and Oversight (DIG-P&O)) authorized the formation of a task force to evaluate the thoroughness and timeliness of criminal investigations into allegations of detainee abuse in order to develop recommendations for improvement in those areas. To accomplish the objective we reviewed the first 50 closed case files for which all documents were available. 1 We did not review cases under investigation or those in the judiciary process. At the time, the USACIDC had opened 93 investigations involving allegations of detainee abuse. This report addresses the results of that review.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 25, 2006
- Accession Number
- ADA596325
Entities
Organizations
- Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Defense