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The '''Detainee Treatment Act of 2005''' is an act passed by the [[United States Congress]] on [[December 31]] [[2005]], specifying explicit standards for the treatment of captives the [[United States]] apprehended during its "[[Global War on Terror]]".<ref name=JuristDTA>
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The '''Detainee Treatment Act of 2005''' (42USC2000dd) is an act passed by the [[United States Congress]] on December 31 2005, specifying explicit standards for the treatment of captives in United States military custody.<ref name=DTA>{{citation
| url = http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/gazette/2005/12/detainee-treatment-act-of-2005-white.php
| date = December 31, 2005
| title = Detainee Treatment Act of 2005
| id = 42 USC 2000dd
}}</ref> Contrary to popular reports, it does not contain the words "war on terror" but is a general standard for military confinement. It is not specific to [[Guantanamo Bay detention camp]], but addresses the status of detainees in Afghanistan and Iraq as well.
 
Its major provisions are restrictions on the use of interrogation techniques that could be construed as [[torture]], as well as restricting the appeals available to those prisoners specifically at Guantanamo.
 
==Permitted interrogation techniques==
Interrogators who use, in good faith, interrogation techniques outside the scope of the Act shall be able to offer the defense "that such officer, employee, member of the Armed Forces, or other agent did not know that the practices were unlawful and a person of ordinary sense and  understanding would not know the practices were unlawful. It specifically states "No individual in the custody or under the physical control of the United States Government, regardless of nationality or physical location, shall be subject to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment."  The description of prohibited treatement is generally consistent with that of the [[Convention on Torture]], and in the spirit of the [[Eighth Amendment]].
 
[[United States Senator]] [[John McCain]], who was tortured by when he was a prisoner of [[North Vietnam]], is the sponsor most closely identified with the Act.  He argued that the interrogation techniques used on American captives should be restricted to those techniques described in the [[United States Army]]'s interrogation manual, FM2-22.3. See [[human-source intelligence]]. [[Vice President of the United States]] [[Dick Cheney]] argued that these restrictions should only apply to captives in military custody, and that the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] should still be allowed to employ "extended interrogation techniques".<ref name=WashingtonPost20051025>
{{cite news
{{cite news
| url=http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/gazette/2005/12/detainee-treatment-act-of-2005-white.php
| url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/24/AR2005102402051.html
| title=Detainee Treatment Act of 2005
| title=Cheney Plan Exempts CIA From Bill Barring Abuse of Detainees
| publisher=[[The Jurist]]
| page=A01
| date=December 31 2005
| publisher=[[Washington Post]]
| author=[[R. Jeffrey Smith]], [[Josh White]]
| date=October 25 2005
| accessdate=2008-04-10
| accessdate=2008-04-10
| quote=
| quote=
}}</ref><ref name=JuristDTA20060420>
}}</ref>
 
==Limitation on appeals==
It limited the scope of detainees to file petitions with the relevant [[United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit]] to an appeal brought by or on behalf of an alien who was detained at Guantanamo and for whom a final determination had been made.
 
Certain prisoners, who had been determined not to be enemy combatants by [[Combatant Status Review Tribunal]]s, were left with no means of appeal, according to legal writer [[Jonathon Hafetz]].<ref name=JuristDTA20060420>
{{cite news
{{cite news
| url=http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/forumy/2006/04/what-detainee-treatment-act-really.php
| url=http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/forumy/2006/04/what-detainee-treatment-act-really.php
Line 16: Line 36:
| date=April 20, 2006
| date=April 20, 2006
| accessdate=2008-04-10
| accessdate=2008-04-10
| quote=
}}</ref> Since the DTA, however, significant court decisions and legislation have affected the criteria for evaluation, so Hafetz's comments may be moot.  
}}</ref>
==Concern on information disclosure==
 
Aspects of the legislation addressed concerns about the disclosure of intelligence information. <ref name=NYtimes20070912>
==Explicitly only allows the techniques in the Army Field Manual on interrogation==
 
[[United States Senator]] [[John McCain]], who was tortured by when he was a prisoner of [[North Vietnam]], is the sponsor most closely identified with the Act. 
He argued that the interrogation techniques used on American captives should be restricted to those techniques described in the [[United States Army]]'s [[United States Army Field Manual on interrogation|Field Manual on interrogation]].
[[VPOTUS|Vice President]] [[Dick Cheney]] argued that these restrictions should only apply to captives in military custody, and that the CIA should still be allowed to employ "[[extended interrogation techniques]]".
 
==Stripped captives of the right to initiate habeas corpus petitions==
 
The Act also stripped captives of the right to initiate habeas corpus petitions in the US Justice system.<ref name=NYtimes20070912>
{{cite news
{{cite news
| url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/12/washington/12gitmo.html?ref=todayspaper
| url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/12/washington/12gitmo.html?ref=todayspaper
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| accessdate=2007-09-12
| accessdate=2007-09-12
| page=A18
| page=A18
}}</ref><ref name=Slate20071016>
{{cite news
| url=http://www.slate.com/id/2176017/
| title=The Dog Ate My Evidence: What happens when the government can't re-create the case against you?
| page=
| pages=
| publisher=[[Slate Magazine]]
| author=[[Dahlia Lithwick]]
| date=Tuesday, October 16, 2007
| accessdate=2008-03-01
| quote=
}}</ref>
In the event the Judicial Branch interpreted this as prohibiting Guantanamo captives from initiating new habeas corpus petitions, but allowing existing habeas corpus petitions to run their course.
While the Act stripped captives of the right to initiate new habeas corpus petitions, it opened a more narrow avenue for appeal.<ref name=NYtimes20070912/><ref name=Slate20071016/> 
Captives were allowed to submit requests to a [[Washington DC]] court of appeals.
The appeals court had the option of reviewing the evidence the [[Combatant Status Review Tribunal]] used to confirm that the captive was an "[[enemy combatant]]", if it thought the captive had a reasonable claim the Tribunal had not complied with the rules laid out for it.
[[Jonathon Hafetz]], writing in ''[[The Jurist]]'', commented that this left nine captives whose Tribunals had determined that they [[no longer enemy combatant|were not enemy combatants after all]] had no where to appeal their detention, even though they had been essentially ruled innocent.<ref name=JuristDTA20060420/>
==The DTA and the Military Commissions Act of 2006==
One of the habeas corpus petitions that continued to proceed after the passage of the DTA was [[Hamdan v. Rumsfeld]].<ref name=JuristMCA20070227>
{{cite news
| url=http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/forumy/2007/02/why-boumediene-was-wrongly-decided.php
| title=Why Boumediene Was Wrongly Decided
| publisher=[[The Jurist]]
| author=[[Marjorie Cohn]]
| date=February 27, 2007
| accessdate=2008-04-10
| quote=
}}</ref>
}}</ref>
One of the consequences, when the [[United States Supreme Court]] ruled on this petition, in the summer of 2006, is that it shut down the [[Guantanamo military commission|military commissions]] the [[George W. Bush|Bush]] [[United States President|Presidency]] set up to try captives.  The Supreme Court ruled that the [[Executive Branch]] lacked the [[United States Constitution|constitutional authority]] to authorize military commissions.  It ruled that this authority lay with Congress.


Subsequently, in the fall of 2006, the United States Congress passed the [[Military Commissions Act of 2006]] (MCA).  The MCA authorized Military Commissions very similar to those set up by the Presidency.  It also specified that all the captive's outstanding habeas corpus petitions would be stayed.
==References==
==References==
<references/>
{{reflist|2}}

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The Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 (42USC2000dd) is an act passed by the United States Congress on December 31 2005, specifying explicit standards for the treatment of captives in United States military custody.[1] Contrary to popular reports, it does not contain the words "war on terror" but is a general standard for military confinement. It is not specific to Guantanamo Bay detention camp, but addresses the status of detainees in Afghanistan and Iraq as well.

Its major provisions are restrictions on the use of interrogation techniques that could be construed as torture, as well as restricting the appeals available to those prisoners specifically at Guantanamo.

Permitted interrogation techniques

Interrogators who use, in good faith, interrogation techniques outside the scope of the Act shall be able to offer the defense "that such officer, employee, member of the Armed Forces, or other agent did not know that the practices were unlawful and a person of ordinary sense and understanding would not know the practices were unlawful. It specifically states "No individual in the custody or under the physical control of the United States Government, regardless of nationality or physical location, shall be subject to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment." The description of prohibited treatement is generally consistent with that of the Convention on Torture, and in the spirit of the Eighth Amendment.

United States Senator John McCain, who was tortured by when he was a prisoner of North Vietnam, is the sponsor most closely identified with the Act. He argued that the interrogation techniques used on American captives should be restricted to those techniques described in the United States Army's interrogation manual, FM2-22.3. See human-source intelligence. Vice President of the United States Dick Cheney argued that these restrictions should only apply to captives in military custody, and that the Central Intelligence Agency should still be allowed to employ "extended interrogation techniques".[2]

Limitation on appeals

It limited the scope of detainees to file petitions with the relevant United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to an appeal brought by or on behalf of an alien who was detained at Guantanamo and for whom a final determination had been made.

Certain prisoners, who had been determined not to be enemy combatants by Combatant Status Review Tribunals, were left with no means of appeal, according to legal writer Jonathon Hafetz.[3] Since the DTA, however, significant court decisions and legislation have affected the criteria for evaluation, so Hafetz's comments may be moot.

Concern on information disclosure

Aspects of the legislation addressed concerns about the disclosure of intelligence information. [4]

References

  1. ↑ Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, December 31, 2005, 42 USC 2000dd
  2. ↑ R. Jeffrey Smith, Josh White. Cheney Plan Exempts CIA From Bill Barring Abuse of Detainees, Washington Post, October 25 2005, p. A01. Retrieved on 2008-04-10.
  3. ↑ Jonathan Hafetz. What the Detainee Treatment Act Really Means for Guantanamo Detainees, The Jurist, April 20, 2006. Retrieved on 2008-04-10.
  4. ↑ William Glaberson. Officials Cite Danger in Revealing Detainee Data, 'New York Times', Wednesday, September 12 2007, p. A18. Retrieved on 2007-09-12.
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