A draft executive order circulated within President Donald Trump’s administration no longer contains language contemplating the reopening of CIA-run “black site” prisons outside the United States.
Language regarding the “program of interrogation of high-value alien terrorists” operated outside the United States was removed from the draft of the order, which the New York Times published Wednesday.
The new draft kept language directing the defense secretary to “maintain and continue to use” the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.
The original draft of the order, first reported by the Times, stipulated that senior national security officers would “recommend to the President whether to reinitiate a program of interrogation of high-value alien terrorists to be operated outside the United States and whether such program should include the use of detention facilities operated by the Central Intelligence Agency.”
It also asked for a review of U.S. methods for interrogating terror suspects.
CIA Director Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary James Mattis apparently learned of the original draft order only after the New York Times reported on it.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said late last month that the draft order did not originate in the White House.
“It is not a White House document. I have no idea where it came from,” Spicer told reporters.