Probe Launched After Gitmo Lawyers Bare Secret CIA Pics

The Justice Department is seeking to determine if military defense attorneys for Guantanamo Bay detainees broke the law protecting classified material by showing prisoners photographs of covert CIA officers and contractors, reports the Washington Post. Three lawyers apparently used the photographs in an attempt to identify potential participants in abuses at secret US-run prisons worldwide.

The photos, taken by the ACLU and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers' John Adams Project, included shots snapped without the subjects' knowledge, sometimes outside their homes. ACLU officials deny wrongdoing, saying the Justice Department's investigation is an intimidation tactic. The photos, and government investigation, reveal how aggressively both sides are attacking the debate over alleged prisoner abuses.