Trump Administration Abandons Idea to Reopen CIA 'Black Site' Prisons

The US Administration is ready to pull back from the idea to reopen the so-called "black site" prisons of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the media reported.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to the New York Times newspaper, the White House have decided to abandon the consideration of reopening overseas "black site" prisons of the CIA, citing unnamed officials.

US President Donald Trump’s draft executive order titled "Detention and Interrogation of Enemy Combatants" was obtained and published by the New York Times on January 25. The draft order directed the Pentagon to continue the use of the Guantanamo Bay prison, which former US President Barack Obama tried to close. US Defense Secretary James Mattis and CIA director Mike Pompeo both denied they have had any knowledge of the order.

The media stated that on Thursday, the White House circulated a new version of the draft order among National Security Council staff members, which does not speak of the reopening of the prisons. Some sections of the new version of the draft order still contain parts of the original regarding the Guantanamo Bay prison, such as plans to bring newly captured terrorism detainees to the prison, the media underlined.

Another change to the draft is that the revised version does not revive the 2007 executive order of then-Preident George W. Bush defining the understanding of torture techniques that were defined as war crimes by the Geneva Conventions, the newspaper added.

In 2009, then-President Obama signed an executive order providing that the CIA "shall close as expeditiously as possible any detention facilities that it currently operates", and prohibiting to operate such detention facilities in the future.