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How the CIA Built Its Secret Prisons

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Aug 13, 2009 9:56 AM CDT

(Newser) – When CIA officials decided to build a series of secret prisons, they immediately contacted the chief of the agency's European supply base, a Frankfurt-based logistical whiz. “It was too sensitive to be handled by headquarters,” Kyle “Dusty” Foggo tells the New York Times. He called a contractor buddy, and with little fuss, the two swiftly arranged the construction of three prisons inside ordinary-looking city buildings in Bucharest, Morocco, and near a former Eastern bloc city.

The prisons were small, capable of holding about six inmates each. Their identical interiors were designed to prevent injuries during interrogation, with nonslip floors and plywood-covered walls. Prisoners were kept in solitary confinement 23 hours a day, and rewarded with DVDs or video games if they behaved. The work helped earn Foggo an eye-popping promotion. But he was accused of funneling projects to his contractor friend in exchange for favors, and later pleaded guilty to corruption charges.

Kyle Dusty Foggo, former executive director of the CIA, turns away from cameras as he leaves the Federal Courthouse following his arraignment on corruption charges, Feb. 14, 2007.
Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, former executive director of the CIA, turns away from cameras as he leaves the Federal Courthouse following his arraignment on corruption charges, Feb. 14, 2007.   (AP Photo/Denis Poroy, File)
A Guantanamo detainee glances up while resting inside a fenced-in outdoor exercise area. CIA officials nicknamed Guantanamo Strawberry Fields, because prisoners would be sent there forever.
A Guantanamo detainee glances up while resting inside a fenced-in outdoor exercise area. CIA officials nicknamed Guantanamo "Strawberry Fields," because prisoners would be sent there "forever."   (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)
In a Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2007 file photo, former Executive Director of the CIA, Kyle Dusty Foggo arrives at the Federal Courthouse for his arraignment on fraud charges.
In a Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2007 file photo, former Executive Director of the CIA, Kyle "Dusty" Foggo arrives at the Federal Courthouse for his arraignment on fraud charges.   (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi, File)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 5 comments
schmidtkoff
Aug 14, 2009 4:52 AM CDT
geneva conference. war crimes and torture. inhumanity to man. unacceptable.
cognitivefilter
Aug 14, 2009 3:41 AM CDT
secret prisons are never a good thing
AnnieChrist
Aug 13, 2009 8:10 AM CDT
This is some serious sh!t, but the story itself reads like something from a Kafka novel, or a Monty Python sketch. The guy is ordered to conduct secret, illegal black-ops activities, then gets indicted for something as pedestrian as accepting a kickback. Kidnapping, torture, secret prisons, no habeus corpus, all OK, getting swag from your cronies, indictable offense. To defend himself, he has to show the court that his activities were an essential part of this secret, illegal program, which he can't because, .....it's a secret. Once again, the cia steps on its dick.

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