Advocates warn of fight ahead if Trump pursues torture

Mark, along with other officials was quoted after President Donald Trump asked for recommendations on whether torture works, if secret CIA black sites should be used again to interrogate suspects and whether the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay should not only stay open, but should accept future detainees, according to a draft executive order that signals sweeping changes to U.S. interrogation and detention policy. The Associated Press and other news organizations obtained a copy.

If the Trump administration resuscitates policies used under the Bush administration, it could jeopardize relations and intelligence sharing between the United States and European allies such as Britain. Prime Minister Teresa May, who is scheduled to meet Trump on Friday, told reporters that Britain “absolutely” condemns the use of torture.

The American Civil Liberties Union warned that if past policies return, the United States could see itself in the middle of a flurry of legal challenges at home and internationally. Torture is prohibited under international law.

Event Date
2017-01-26
Pub/Org
CBS News

Tortured and Wrongly Held at Guantanamo for 14 Years, Abdul Zahir How Has Freedom, but No Justice

Mark was interviewed by Truthout Reporter Adam Hudson regarding a Guantanamo detainee held for 14 years, based on mistaken identity.  It’s not a huge surprise that false charges and cases of mistaken identity occurred amid this race to incarcerate. Fallon said that JTF-GTMO (Joint Task Force Guantánamo), which runs the Guantánamo prison, was looking for anything to pin on detainees. For example, part of JTF-GTMO’s threat indication criteria was whether a detainee possessed a common item like a Casio F-91W or A159W wristwatch because it was “the sign of al-Qaida, [which] uses the watch to make bombs,” which Fallon called “sad” and “comical.” Fallon said CITF concluded “an overwhelming majority” of detainees had no intelligence or investigative value and should be released, while JTF-GTMO argued for further detention. However, it was JTF-GTMO’s assessments that caught the White House’s ear, while voices like Fallon’s were marginalized. Fallon shares his insider perspective on how the US government implemented torture in a book called Unjustifiable Means: The Inside Story of How the CIA, Pentagon, and US Government Conspired to Torture.

Bush-era ex-officials speak out against Trump on torture

Channel News Asia reported on a panel Mark was on with other former senior US government officials in Paris, France. The conference and panel was organised by leading rights groups including the International Federation for Human Rights, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights and the US-based Center for Constitutional Rights.

Event Date
2017-01-27
Pub/Org
Channel News Asia

New Guantánamo intelligence upends old ‘worst of the worst’ assumptions

Miami Herald reporter Carol Rosenberg interviewed Mark for this piece on the flawed intelligence that led to many Guantanamo Bay detainees to remain prisoners. Mark said that the early intelligence was ofter grossly wrong and often based on the sketchiest bit of intelligence.  Mark explained that the facts didn’t change, but evolved and could now be interpreted differently.

Event Date
2016-09-30
Pub/Org
Miami Herald

Former Federal Agents Urge Supreme Court to Hear Case Involving FBI Torture

HRF issued a release about Mark and two former FBI agents filed an amicus brief, urging the Supreme Court to hear a case about possible constitutional violations committed by FBI agents during an overseas counterterrorism operation.  Mark, Don Borelli and Joe Navarro, from the FBI said: “FBI agents are required to adhere to the Constitution whenever and wherever they carry out their work.”

Event Date
2016-07-14
Pub/Org
Human Rights First

FBI Trains Local, Federal Officers, Other Nations On Interrogation

Mark and HIG Director Frazier Thompson were interviewed about the importance of lawful, humane and scientifically informed interrogations.  Mark emphasized the importance by referencing to statistics from the Innocence Project on false confessions.

Event Date
2015-11-17
Pub/Org
The Crime Report