Long-Awaited “Torture Memos” Report Reveals Evidence Requiring a Full-Scale Investigation of Torture

Washington, DC, February 19, 2010—Today House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) released the report by the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) reviewing actions of the senior government lawyers who provided legal cover for torture of detainees in American custody during the Bush Administration.  The long-awaited report is the product of a five-year investigation by OPR, the DOJ's internal ethics review board, of the authors of the "torture memos": John Yoo, Jay Bybee and Steven Bradbury, former senior lawyers in DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC).

The OPR report reveals new facts about the involvement of senior White House officials in the OLC lawyers' preparation of the "torture memos," raising further questions about improper political interference with DOJ's legal work.  Although it was widely reported that an earlier draft of the OPR report concluded that Yoo and Bybee violated their professional responsibilities in drafting the most infamous 2002 "torture memo," the final report released today has been softened to conclude only that they showed "poor judgment."  Under DOJ rules, "poor judgment" does not amount to professional misconduct and therefore does not trigger a referral to state bar associations for disciplinary review. 

"Regardless of OPR's conclusion about the lawyers' ethical conduct, the report adds to the mounting evidence that warrants a full-scale investigation of those who ordered, designed, and justified torture," said Nan Aron, President of the Alliance for Justice.  "Releasing the OPR report is an important first step in promoting transparency, but OPR's investigation alone cannot provide resolution for what led our country to torture.  The OPR report is just the latest damning piece of a puzzle that irrefutably calls for an independent inquiry into those who provided legal cover for torture."

From 2002 to 2007, the Justice Department sanctioned acts of torture committed by members of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) against detained suspected terrorists.  These acts of torture were outlined and authorized in a series of secret "torture memos" drafted by Yoo, Bybee and Bradbury.  In 2004, OPR began an inquiry to determine whether Yoo, Bybee and Bradbury committed any ethical violations in producing the "torture memos."

Release of the OPR report has been eagerly anticipated for more than a year.   News leaked at the end of the Bush Administration that the report had been finished in late 2008, but that then-Attorney General Michael Mukasey did not want to publicize the damaging facts it contained.  Mukasey took the unusual step of allowing Yoo, Bybee and Bradbury time to provide written comments in response.  At multiple points over the course of 2009, news outlets commented and Attorney General Holder testified on the report's imminent release. 

Now, more than five years after the inquiry began and after several government attempts to keep the report secret, Americans finally have access to the facts contained in this important report. The report should be the tipping point toward an independent inquiry and full-scale investigation.

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For more information, or to speak with Nan Aron, president of the Alliance for Justice, contact Kathy Plate 605-670-2378 or kathy@afj.org.

You can read the DOJ Report on Bush Administration Interrogation Memos and Related Documents here.