THE CIA will decommission the infamous "black sites" where terrorism suspects were interrogated with harsh techniques that included waterboarding, agency director Leon Panetta said last night.
Mr Panetta said in a letter to agency staff that he had informed the US Congress of the CIA's detention policies following an order by president Barack Obama in January banning harsh interrogations and ordering that the secret detention sites be clo
sed.
He said the agency had also discontinued using contract employees to conduct interrogations, which congressional members described as an invitation to abuse.
"The CIA no longer operates detention facilities or black sites and has proposed a plan to decommission the remaining sites," Mr Panetta wrote.
"I have directed our agency personnel to take charge of the decommissioning process and have further directed that the contracts for site security be promptly terminated."
The now empty "black sites" in unidentified countries were used to detain suspects who were captured in the "war on terrorism" launched by former president George Bush.
Mr Panetta said the CIA would use "a dialogue style of questioning" as listed in the US army field manual.
Human rights campaigners want abuses under the Bush administration fully investigated and publicised.
