On Aug. 24, President Obama’s Special Task Force on Interrogations and Transfer Policies released an announcement that upholds a controversial policy concerning the interrogation of terrorism suspects known as extraordinary rendition.  To the chagrin of the human rights community, the administration has determined that it will continue the practice of sending these individuals to third countries for detention and interrogation.

The policy of extraordinary rendition was first developed by the Clinton administration but not heavily used until after September 11, 2001.  Abuses of the program became well documented and the Bush administration was quickly denounced by critics for “outsourcing torture ” to countries known to have abysmal human rights records.  In a July 2007 Foreign Affairs article then-candidate Obama wrote that the U.S. must “[end] the practices of shipping away prisoners in the dead of night to be tortured in far-off countries.”

The task force’s statement on the Department of Justice website declares that the U.S. government “may rely on assurances from the receiving country” that prisoners will not be tortured.  This is the same procedure used by the Bush administration that failed to protect suspects from torture.  The release further stated that the U.S. government should “insist on a monitoring mechanism, or otherwise establish [one]” to ensure access to the individual.  However, in the widely reported case of Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen renditioned by the U.S. government to Syria, this measure also failed.  Arar met with a Canadian consular officer several times during his imprisonment but was too frightened to disclose the fact he was being beaten with electrical wires.

The only measure of accountability that goes beyond the practices of the Bush administration is the recommendation that the Inspectors General of the State, Defense, and Homeland Security Departments prepare an annual coordinated report on transfers conducted by their agencies.  There is no mention on what these reports should contain – ie reports of abuse, prisoner complaints, etc.  There is also no indication as to the availability of these reports to the American public nor have stricter limits on rendition been announced.  Further, there is no statement as to why this program is preferred over the interrogation of such suspects by U.S. enforcement officials who answer to known standards.  Thus, the secretive rendition program of the Bush administration remains intact largely as it was before.