CIA spent $300 million on detention, interrogation program

The United States Senate bombshell report was released Tuesday, but more facts are coming out of the controversial report that shed light on the CIA’s detention and interrogation program that essentially proved ineffective.

Although the extensive report was made public this week, it does conceal many facts and discoveries – for instance, there are numerous thick black bars that cover certain deductions and other information that is omitted completely.

With that being said, portions of the $300 million included paying for the detention centers themselves as well as subsidies in order to “show appreciation” for at least three host countries that helped maintain the prisons. Unfortunately, the names of the participating nations and precise costs were not released to taxpayers.

One aspect of the report is turning heads. When one CIA official offered more than $1 million to a possible host country, another official responded: “Do you realize you can buy [Country redacted] for $[redacted]? Ostensibly, the price-tag was too high for the person in question.

The $300 million cost does not include personnel. However, it does include a $200,000 detention center constructed in 2002, which was internally identified as COBALT. Furthermore, the sum includes “two facilities costing nearly $[redacted] million that were never used, in part due to host country political concerns.”

What may be even more interesting is the fact that the surreptitious CIA outsourced its torture program to a company that was nearly comprised entirely of former CIA agents. The private firm was paid $81 million, while its interrogators made $1,800 per day for performing “enhanced interrogation techniques.”

Until 2021, the CIA will be required to pay the company’s legal expenses, which it has been doing since the agreement was made.

Bureaucracy? Check. Torture? Check. Costly? Check. Cronyism? Yep, that sounds just like a government agency for sure. Perhaps we should outsource our esteemed representatives, too, and attempt to receive leaders with integrity, ethics and a strong constitution? Unlikely.