US May Create Special Interrogation Unit

By VOA News
19 July 2009

U.S. government officials say the Obama administration is considering creating a special unit of professional interrogators to handle high-value terror suspects.

CIA headquarters in Virginia, VOA TV

Officials told two major U.S. newspapers The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post about the creation of the unit on the condition of anonymity, saying the government task force on interrogation methods has not yet reported to the president.

Officials say the unit's primary purpose would be intelligence gathering, rather than building criminal cases for prosecution. The team would also devise new interrogation methods.

Officials say the task force has not yet determined what agency should run the new unit, but it will not be the Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA headed up interrogations under the Bush administration.

The small, specialized unit would be composed of personnel from the federal government's intelligence, military, and law agencies.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.

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