Extraordinary rendition
Extraordinary rendition is a controversial practice in which individuals suspected of terrorism are apprehended and transferred, often without legal due process, to countries where they may be subjected to torture or harsh interrogation methods. The United States intensified its extraordinary rendition program following the September 11, 2001, attacks, although the practice has roots dating back to the 1990s. It involves the clandestine operation of government agencies, primarily the CIA, which has been empowered to conduct such activities under national security justifications.
The goal of extraordinary rendition is to obtain critical intelligence about terrorist activities, sometimes yielding significant information that aids in national security efforts. However, it has also led to serious human rights violations, including the wrongful detention and torture of innocent individuals, as illustrated by several high-profile cases that sparked global condemnation. The program has drawn widespread scrutiny from human rights organizations and prompted investigations and legal actions in various countries, exposing the complexities and ethical dilemmas associated with maintaining national security in a post-9/11 world.
In recent years, the United States has made efforts to reform its rendition practices, implementing stricter oversight and legal protections for detainees, yet the legacy of extraordinary rendition continues to be a contentious aspect of U.S. foreign policy and counterterrorism strategy.
Extraordinary rendition
The abduction and transport of persons to foreign jurisdictions that allow torture, which is illegal under American statutes and a violation of international law; by contrast, “rendition” is the legal, constitutional transfer of a person between jurisdictions.
In an effort to protect the nation following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the United State government expanded a secret program of extraordinary rendition instituted in the 1990s. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operatives apprehended suspected terrorists in domestic or overseas locations and then flew them to countries where torture was allowed, in order to extract information by any means about past or future terrorist acts.
One of the least publicized, least understood aspects of US foreign policy is the government’s involvement in secret activities. From the beginning of its history—acting on the principle that desperate times demand desperate measures—the United States has undertaken numerous surreptitious operations in national interest. Most such practices are clandestine because the object of the action is to remain undetected. Since the beginning of the Cold War, however, an increasing number of US secret operations have been covert: planned and executed in a manner primarily intended to hide the identity of entities behind the activity. The National Security Act of 1947 legally empowered the CIA, upon presidential approval, to enact covert operations for political and military objectives; other agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) or the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) may be called upon for assistance. Such covert activities, which the US government could plausibly deny, may include sabotage, assassinations, or support for the subversion or overthrow of foreign governments. Some operations are only revealed long after they have been enacted, via media disclosure or Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests; other covert operations, protected under the blanket of “national security,” may never be known.
An Antiterrorism Measure
Early publicized instances of extraordinary rendition carried out with US government approval occurred following the initial terrorist attack on New York City’s World Trade Center. In February 1993, a truck bomb exploded in the subterranean parking garage under the North Tower, killing six people and wounding hundreds. Extraordinary rendition, with President Bill Clinton’s approval, was subsequently used to apprehend a number of the perpetrators on foreign soil and transport them to the United States, where they stood trial, were convicted, and were imprisoned for their crimes.
The administration of President George W. Bush reinstated and stepped up the technique of extraordinary rendition after the attacks of September 11, 2001. Between 2001 and 2004, when the media became aware of the program, dozens of terrorist suspects were kidnapped and detained—the full number of individuals apprehended and detained may never be known, but more than 1,200 CIA flights have been documented. During that time, several major changes in policy were instituted. Abductions were often carried out without the knowledge, cooperation, or approval of foreign countries where suspects were found. More significantly, prisoners were not returned to the United States for questioning; thus their treatment was not closely monitored. Instead, blindfolded, shackled, and sedated suspects were transported to prisons in different locations—including Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Poland, Romania, and Lithuania—or to secret US government–run “black sites” in foreign countries. Prisoners were often subjected to harsh interrogation tactics: placed in stressful positions, sexually humiliated, or waterboarded.
In principle, American extraordinary renditions conducted in the twenty-first century served several useful purposes. They prevented suspects from participating in acts of terror. In some cases, they provided valuable information about planned acts of future terrorism.
The most successful renditions involved two operatives closely identified with al-Qaeda: Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who planned the September 11 attacks, and Abu Zubaydah, who directed a terrorist training facility in Afghanistan. Each was separately abducted and detained in Pakistan. Closely interrogated, both provided details about additional figures connected with terrorist groups, and both were coerced into revealing plans for future plots.
Other cases, however, were spectacular failures: through mistaken identity, innocent people were kidnapped and tortured. Khaled al-Masri, for example, a Lebanese-born citizen of Germany, was kidnapped in Macedonia. Though it soon became obvious that he was not the person the CIA thought he was, al-Masri was held and tortured for several months in Afghanistan, then transported to a remote location in Albania and released to make his way home on his own. An Egyptian-born resident of Italy, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr (also known as Abu Omar), was kidnapped in Milan—dozens of bystanders witnessed his abduction—and flown to Egypt for detention and interrogation. Such clumsy intelligence agency operations not only embarrassed the supposed professionals who carried out the captures, but also jeopardized American diplomatic relationships with friendly nations.
Reactions to Extraordinary Rendition
Once the media became aware of the American extraordinary rendition program, the policy and the CIA faced increasing public scrutiny and criticism. Between early 2005 and 2009, numerous reports appeared in domestic and foreign news outlets revealing further details of specific examples of the practice. Government investigations were conducted in many countries. These uncovered evidence that officials at various foreign airports—in France, Germany, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere—had colluded or cooperated in illegal CIA-operated flights en route with kidnapped suspects to detention facilities. Various human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, American Civil Liberties Union, and Amnesty International, soon became involved. Protests were lodged, not only for the ostensible condoning of torture, but also for placing American military personnel at potential risk of similar treatment in retaliation. The United States was publicly condemned for engaging in multiple violations of the European Convention on Human Rights and the United Nations Convention against Torture.
The Italian government went further, in the case of Abu Omar, who was detained and interrogated in Egypt for four years before being released and allowed to return home. Italian prosecutors collected a mountain of evidence left behind during a particularly sloppy rendition operation: forged identity cards, genuine American passports containing the actual names of the agents, and statements from witnesses who had observed the abduction. The Italian courts issued arrest warrants (which were not honored, since the agency involved was locked into a policy of denial) and proceeded to trial. During the trial, the whole conspiracy was uncovered, revealing widespread collusion between American and Italian agents. In 2009, the Italian court convicted more than twenty CIA operatives and a US Air Force officer in absentia—the first agents ever to be publicly tried and found guilty for participating in the American extraordinary rendition program. One former agent, Sabrina de Sousa, was arrested and imprisoned in Portugal in 2015 but, before being extradited to Italy in 2017, received a commuted sentence through US negotiations.
The United States is not the only country to have practiced extraordinary rendition. In the mid-to-late 2010s, in the absence of an extradition agreement, the Chinese government engaged in the extraordinary rendition of a handful of Hong Kong residents from Hong Kong or countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, and Burma (Myanmar) to stand trial in mainland China. Between 2000 and 2019 dozens of Chinese expatriates in Western countries, such as Australia, Canada, and the United States, were reportedly kidnapped or coerced into returning to China under threat of violence; whether such incidents can be categorized legally as extraordinary rendition remains subject to debate.
Impact
When properly planned and executed, extraordinary renditions have proven useful in the war on terror—a conflict in which the normal rules of engagement have been set aside. Such renditions provide the option of immediate detention in the face of imminent acts of terror that cannot wait for the legal process to take effect.
In the wake of public exposure and widespread condemnation, the American rendition policy was closely examined internally in order to make changes aimed at maintaining secrecy, preventing mistakes, and ensuring humane treatment of suspects within acceptable limitations. American-operated black sites were to be discontinued in 2006, future suspects would instead be transported to the US Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba or to jurisdictions where they were wanted for crimes, and suspects were to receive full legal protection during prosecution. Other recommendations adopted included adherence to stricter tactical and operational procedures, assignment of the most experienced agents in carrying out renditions, and closer scrutiny of intelligence gained—since in the process of interrogation, it was discovered that some prisoners will say anything to escape torture.
As the decade drew to a close, the rendition policy began to be more closely monitored by the US government. In 2009, President Barack Obama signed executive orders that retained the rendition policy while also promulgating stricter controls allowing the president to approve or disapprove individual cases. The order also increased the level of oversight regarding the humane treatment of individuals during apprehension, transportation, and detention. The Obama administration instead relied more on prisoner transfers and proxy detentions abroad.
The Open Society Justice Initiative reported in 2013 that the US extraordinary rendition program had affected at least 136 people and involved fifty-four countries. An analysis of public flight data published in International Area Studies Review in 2017 found that another fifteen countries had participated and a total of 307 likely flights had taken place.
As US president-elect, Donald Trump endorsed the use of torture as effective but, under defense advisers' guidance, pursued other avenues as president. During Senate confirmation hearings for Trump's second CIA director in May 2018, Gina Haspel, then acting CIA director, refused to declassify records related to her oversight of a Thai black site in 2002. Haspel stated that she would not relaunch CIA detention and enhanced-interrogation programs, but was not pressed on extraordinary rendition. She later wrote a letter repudiating the Bush-era torture program and was confirmed 54–45.
Bibliography
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