Secret Detentions During September 11 Investigation

Memorandum to Interested Persons

RE: Secret Detentions During September 11 Investigation
From: The Center for National Security Studies
Date: November 20, 2001

1. Status of FOIA request for information on 1,100 plus detainees.
   • On October 29, twenty organizations filed a FOIA request with the Justice Department, the FBI and the INS to challenge the unprecedented level of secrecy surrounding detention of 1,100 plus individuals during the investigation of the September 11 attacks.
   • The Department of Justice has agreed to expedite our FOIA request; the FBI denied the request, claiming release of the requested information would harm an ongoing criminal investigation; and the INS has only confirmed receipt of the request.
2. Secrecy about the detentions increases.
   • On November 8, after conflicting statements from the White House and the DOJ about the status of the detainees, the DOJ announced they would no longer release the number of detentions. Now, no one can monitor even the scope of the investigation.
3. Denial of FOIA based on harm to ongoing investigations does not match amount of information government has already released.
   • The claim that releasing any of the names and basis for detention would do harm to ongoing investigations is difficult to accept when the Attorney General himself has released information about individuals who have been detained and the government believes are connected with terrorist organizations.
   • For example, the Attorney General claimed that three men arrested in Detroit had advanced knowledge of the attacks; in Texas, two men were removed from a train after they were discovered carrying box cutters and a large sum of money; and a man was arrested in Minnesota after he sought lessons only to steer a jumbo jet.
   • Based on press reports, government officials have stated that they believe only a fraction of those who have been detained are connected with the terrorist attacks. Therefore, it is inconceivable that releasing information on the numerous other detainees would harm the investigation of the September 11 attacks.
4. Cognitive rights of detainees that have been violated.
   • The government has denied bail for minor immigration or criminal violations that would not otherwise result in incarceration.
   • Lack of information about arrests has interfered with the right to effective counsel and contact with family members.
   • Press reports have cited cases where detainees have been abused by inmates or mistreated by prison officials.
   • The government has abused the material witness statute, detaining 'witnesses' where the government's goal is not to ensure their testimony at trial, but preventive detention.
5. Potential harm to American citizens arrested abroad.
   • When the government detains a foreign national, they are obligated by international treaty to notify the government of his or her home country.
   • When American citizens are detained overseas, our government protests loudly when they are not informed.
   • Failure to live up to this obligation, even in this extraordinary case, could do harm to Americans arrested abroad.