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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION

125 Broad Street

New York, NY 10004,

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION

FOUNDATION

125 Broad Street

New York, NY 10004,

Plaintiffs,

v.

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY,

Washington, D.C. 20505,

Defendant.

No. ______________

COMPLAINT FOR INJUNCTIVE RELIEF

1. This is a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking the release from the Central

Intelligence Agency (“CIA”) of two agency records: a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

investigative report detailing the CIA’s now-discontinued program of rendition, detention,

torture, and other abuse of detainees, and the CIA’s report in response, in which it defends those

unlawful practices.

2. In the years after September 11, 2001, under a program developed and authorized

by officials at the highest levels of government, the CIA systematically captured, detained, and

tortured suspected terrorists, including in a network of secret overseas prisons known as “black

sites.” That program was halted by President George W. Bush in 2008, and in 2009, President

Barack Obama ordered the black sites closed.

Case 1:13-cv-01870 Document 1 Filed 11/26/13 Page 1 of 9

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3. Because of the continuing and extraordinary public interest in and controversy

surrounding the CIA’s rendition, torture, and secret detention program, the Senate Select

Committee on Intelligence (“SSCI”) conducted a comprehensive review of the CIA’s post-9/11

conduct—examining millions of pages of government documents in the process. At the end of

2012, the SSCI completed a 6,000-page investigative report (“SSCI CIA Report”) documenting

its findings and conclusions. According to those involved, the SSCI CIA Report is the most

extensive review of the CIA’s program thus far conducted. The Chairman of the SSCI said upon

the Committee’s adoption of the report, “I am confident the CIA will emerge a better and more

able organization as a result of the committee’s work. I also believe this report will settle the

debate once and for all over whether our nation should ever employ coercive interrogation

techniques such as those detailed in this report.” The SSCI sent a copy of its report to the CIA,

and the CIA eventually issued its own report in response (“CIA Report”). The CIA’s response is

reportedly a detailed defense of its detention, torture, and abuse of detainees.

4. On February 13, 2013 and June 28, 2013, Plaintiffs American Civil Liberties

Union and American Civil Liberties Union Foundation (together, “ACLU”) submitted two

separate Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) requests to the CIA seeking, respectively, the

SSCI CIA Report and the CIA Report. The CIA has not released either report in response.

Plaintiffs now file suit under FOIA, 5 U.S.C. § 552, for injunctive and other appropriate relief,

seeking the immediate processing and release of the two reports.

5. There is immense public interest in the disclosure of the SSCI CIA Report and the

CIA’s response to it. For much of the last decade, the legality and wisdom of the CIA’s practices,

as well as the resulting harm to individuals’ human rights and our nation’s values and national

Case 1:13-cv-01870 Document 1 Filed 11/26/13 Page 2 of 9

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security, have been matters of intense and ongoing debate. A fair public debate of these issues

must be informed by both the SSCI CIA Report and the CIA’s defense of its program.

Jurisdiction and Venue

6. This Court has both subject matter jurisdiction over the FOIA claim and personal

jurisdiction over the parties pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(B) and (a)(6)(E)(iii). This Court

also has jurisdiction over this action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331 and 5 U.S.C. §§ 701–706.

Venue lies in this district under 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(B).

Parties

7. Plaintiff American Civil Liberties Union is a nationwide, non-profit, nonpartisan

26 U.S.C. § 501(c)(4) organization with more than 500,000 members dedicated to the

constitutional principles of liberty and equality. The ACLU is committed to ensuring that the

American government complies with the Constitution and laws, including its international legal

obligations, in matters that affect civil liberties and human rights. The ACLU is also committed

to principles of transparency and accountability in government, and seeks to ensure that the

American public is informed about the conduct of its government in matters that affect civil

liberties and human rights.

8. Plaintiff American Civil Liberties Union Foundation is a separate 26 U.S.C. §

501(c)(3) organization that educates the public about civil liberties and employs lawyers who

provide legal representation free of charge in cases involving civil liberties.

9. Defendant CIA is a department of the Executive Branch of the United States

government and is an agency within the meaning of 5 U.S.C. § 552(f)(1).

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Displaying ssci_cia_foia_complaint.pdf.