Authorized & Legal

The CIA’s Rendition, Detention, and Interrogation program was fully authorized by senior leaders at the White House, National Security Council and Department of Justice and was briefed to the senior leadership of the Senate and House intelligence committees.

The document below provides a narrative overview and an extensive timeline with links to supporting documents (many of which have never been seen publicly before). These documents clearly demonstrate the lengths CIA went to to ensure the RDI program had the complete policy and legal support of the United States government. The documents make clear that CIA repeatedly asked for written guarantees of such support and on occasions when any questions of support arose, it immediately suspended the program until appropriate authorities provided the necessary assurances.