Editing Defense Intelligence Agency (section)

=== Alleged torture with drugs, gay porn, and loud music ===
[[File:FBI correspondence regarding DIA personnel in Guantanamo.pdf|thumb|A declassified FBI correspondence alleging DIA misconduct]]
In 2003, the Defense Secretary [[Donald Rumsfeld]]'s "Working Group" on interrogations requested that DIA come up with prisoner interrogation techniques for the group's consideration. According to the 2008 [[United States Senate Committee on Armed Services|US Senate Armed Services Committee]] report on the treatment of detainees in U.S. custody, DIA began drawing up the list of techniques with the help of its civilian employee, a former Guantanamo Interrogation Control Element (ICE) Chief David Becker. Becker claimed that the Working Group members were particularly interested in aggressive methods and that he "was encouraged to talk about techniques that
inflict pain."<ref>[[United States Senate Committee on Armed Services]] [http://www.armed-services.senate.gov/Publications/Detainee%20Report%20Final_April%2022%202009.pdf "INQUIRY INTO THE TREATMENT OF DETAINEES IN U.S. CUSTODY"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021194943/http://www.armed-services.senate.gov/Publications/Detainee%20Report%20Final_April%2022%202009.pdf |date=October 21, 2013 }} November 20, 2008, p 111</ref>

It is unknown to what extent the agency's recommendations were used or for how long, but according to the same Senate report, the list drawn up by DIA included the use of "drugs such as [[sodium pentothal]] and [[Demerol]]," humiliation via female interrogators and sleep deprivation. Becker claimed that he recommended the use of drugs due to rumors that another intelligence agency, the name of which was redacted in the Senate report, had successfully used them in the past.<ref>[[United States Senate Committee on Armed Services]] [http://www.armed-services.senate.gov/Publications/Detainee%20Report%20Final_April%2022%202009.pdf "INQUIRY INTO THE TREATMENT OF DETAINEES IN U.S. CUSTODY"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021194943/http://www.armed-services.senate.gov/Publications/Detainee%20Report%20Final_April%2022%202009.pdf |date=October 21, 2013 }} November 20, 2008, p 112</ref> According to the analysis of the [[Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Defense|Office of Defense Inspector General]], DIA's cited justification for the use of drugs was to "[relax] detainee to cooperative state" and that mind-altering substances were not used.<ref>[[Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Defense|Deputy Inspector General for Intelligence]] [http://www.dodig.mil/FOIA/ERR/09-INTEL-13_Redacted.pdf "Investigation of Allegations of the Use of Mind-Altering Drugs to Facilitate Interrogations of Detainees"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170313195818/http://www.dodig.mil/FOIA/ERR/09-INTEL-13_Redacted.pdf |date=March 13, 2017 }} September 23, 2009, p 10</ref>

Some of the more lurid revelations of DIA's alleged harsh interrogations came from [[FBI]] officers, who conducted their own screenings of detainees in [[Guantanamo]] along with other agencies. According to one account, the interrogators of what was then DIA's [[Defense Clandestine Service|Defense Humint Service]] (referenced in FBI correspondence as DHS<ref>White, Josh. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/23/AR2006022301813.html FBI Interrogators in Cuba Opposed Aggressive Tactics], ''The Washington Post'', February 24, 2006</ref>), forced subjects to watch [[gay porn]], draped them with the [[Flag of Israel|Israeli flag]], and interrogated them in rooms lit by [[strobe light]]s for 16–18 hours, all the while telling prisoners that they were from FBI.<ref name="aclu.org">[[American Civil Liberties Union]] [https://www.aclu.org/files/projects/foiasearch/pdf/DOJFBI003584.pdf Email &#91;parties redacted&#93; re GTMO], 7/31</ref>

The real FBI operatives were concerned that DIA's harsh methods and impersonation of FBI agents would complicate the FBI's ability to do its job properly, saying "The next time a real Agent tries to talk to that guy, you can imagine the result."<ref name="aclu.org" /> A subsequent military inquiry countered FBI's allegations by saying that the prisoner treatment was degrading but not inhumane, without addressing the allegation of DIA staff regularly impersonating FBI officers—usually a [[felony]] offense.<ref>Lewis, Neil. [https://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/14/politics/14gitmo.html "Report Discredits F.B.I. Claims of Abuse at Guantánamo Bay"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', July 14, 2005</ref>

Similar activities transpired at the hands of DIA operatives in [[Bagram]], where as recently as 2010 the organization ran the so-called "Black Jail". According to a report published by ''[[The Atlantic]]'', the jail was manned by DIA's [[DCHC]] staff, who were accused of beating and [[Sexual abuse|sexually humiliating]] high-value targets held at the site.<ref>Ambinder, Marc. [https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/05/inside-the-secret-interrogation-facility-at-bagram/56678/ "Inside the Secret Interrogation Facility at Bagram"], ''[[The Atlantic]]'', May 14, 2010</ref> The detention center outlived the black sites run by the [[Central Intelligence Agency]], with DIA allegedly continuing to use "restricted" interrogation methods in the facility under a secret authorization. It is unclear what happened to the secret facility after the 2013 transfer of the base to Afghan authorities following several postponements.<ref>Rodriguez, Alex. [https://www.latimes.com/world/la-xpm-2013-mar-25-la-fg-wn-us-bagram-prison-afghanistan-20130325-story.html "U.S. hands over control of Bagram prison to Afghan government"], ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', March 25, 2013</ref>

DIA's harsh interrogation methods at times paled in comparison to those of some U.S. [[special operations forces]]. In 2004, interrogations by [[Joint Special Operations Command]]'s high-value targets special operations task forces (including [[Task Force 6-26]]) were so heavy-handed and physical with the detainees that two DIA officials complained, as a result of which they were threatened and put under surveillance by abusive military interrogators. The two DIA officials managed to share their accounts of abuse with the agency leadership, prompting DIA Director [[Lowell E. Jacoby|Lowell Jacoby]] to write a memo on this topic to the [[Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence]].<ref>Lewis, Neil. [https://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/07/politics/07cnd-abus.html?ex=1103462134&ei=1&en=1329389e02672a45&_r=0 "Memos Say 2 Officials Who Saw Prison Abuse Were Threatened"], ''The New York Times'', December 7, 2004</ref>