J. Use of Duct Tape on Detainees

Five OIG survey respondents stated that they observed or heard about the use of duct tape on a detainee. We believe that most or all of these agents were likely referring to the same incident.

As noted in Chapter Five, SSAs Lyle and Foy were agents from the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) who were deployed to GTMO in September and October 2002.¹⁴² Lyle told the OIG that one evening while he and Foy were observing a law enforcement interview at Camp Delta, Andrews, the Chief of the the DOD's Interrogation Control Element at GTMO at the time, came into their observation room and said to them: "Hey come here I want to show you something."¹⁴³ Lyle followed Andrews to another observation room that was "packed" with military personnel, and pointed to one of the interrogation rooms that contained a detainee with duct tape wrapped around his head. Lyle said that two bands of tape went entirely around the detainee's head, one that covered his eyes and one that covered his mouth. Lyle said that the detainee had a full head of hair and a beard. The detainee was sitting on the floor handcuffed to the I-bolt in the floor. There were two interrogators and two guards in the room with the detainee, and one of the interrogators was yelling at the detainee. Lyle asked Andrews, "Was he [the detainee] spitting on someone?" Andrews responded, "No, he just wouldn't stop chanting the Koran."

Lyle told the OIG that he left the room and described the incident to Foy and to the FBI OSC. Lyle stated that he then briefed the CITF commander and the chief JAG officer at GTMO.

SSA Foy and the FBI OSC provided accounts of the incident that were consistent with Lyle's description. The OSC told us that Foy told him about the duct tape incident and that he in turn reported the incident to his JAG counterpart and to FBI Headquarters. Foy also included a description of the duct tape incident in his EC to senior officials at FBI Headquarters dated November 22, 2003, which is discussed in Chapter Five. As also discussed in that chapter, around the time the MLDU Unit Chief learned of this incident, he raised the larger issue of aggressive military interrogation tactics - particularly in the context of the al-Qahtani interrogations - with DOJ officials.

The duct tape incident was addressed in the Schmidt-Furlow Report, which stated that duct tape was wrapped around the detainee's mouth and head in an effort to quiet the detainee. According to that report, Andrews claimed that he ordered the detainee to be duct taped because the detainee was screaming resistance messages and was potentially provoking a riot. Andrews claimed that at the time there were from seven to ten other detainees in the interrogation facility at the time and he was concerned about losing control of the situation. The Schmidt-Furlow investigators took statements from SSAs Lyle and Foy in which the FBI agents provided essentially the same information that they provided to the OIG. Schmidt-Furlow Exhibit 6. The Schmidt-Furlow Report found that Andrews's conduct was "unauthorized."¹⁴⁴

Notes

141. Several of the survey respondents described the use of loud music over the public address system at Camp X-Ray in 2002 rather than as a specific interrogation technique. We received no reports that this practice occurred outside of Camp X-Ray.

142. Lyle and Foy are pseudonyms.

143. Andrews is a pseudonym.

144. There were differences between the statements provided by Andrews and the FBI agents, which the Schmidt-Furlow Report did not attempt to resolve. For example, Lyle and Foy stated that there were only one or two other interrogations underway at the time. Andrews, however, asserted that there was anywhere between seven and ten other interrogations taking place at the time of the duct tape incident, and that his action was necessary to prevent the possible incitement of other detainees. Yet, both Lyle and Foy described Andrews's demeanor as laughing or giggling. Lyle also indicated he was certain that Andrews said the reason he had the detainee duct taped was because he would not stop chanting the Koran.

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