CIA Refuses to Hand Over Interrogation Records

The CIA has refused to hand over any more documents relating to its Bush-era interrogation and detention programs, the New York Times reports. The agency told a federal judge that dozens of documents, including communications from secret prisons and agency assessments of the programs' legality, must remain secret in the interests of national security.

Releasing the documents is "reasonably likely to degrade" the agency's "ability to effectively question terrorist detainees and elicit information necessary to protect the American people," the CIA said in a court filing made public yesterday. The American Civil Liberties Union, which has been seeking the documents' release for years, slammed the agency's refusal as being at odds with the Obama administration's pledge of greater transparency. (More CIA stories.)