CIA considered using 'truth serum' on 9/11 suspects; document reveals other torture techniques

In the aftermath of 9/11, the CIA pondered over the utilization of a drug that might work like a 'truth serum' and force suspects to spill information, according to a report that was made public on Tuesday. 

After months of research, the agency decided that a drug called Versed, a sedative often prescribed to reduce anxiety, was “possibly worth a try.” But in the end, the CIA decided not to ask government lawyers to approve its use.

The existence of the drug research program — dubbed “Project Medication” — is disclosed in a once-classified report that was provided to the American Civil Liberties Union under a judge’s order and was released by the organization Tuesday.

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The 90-page CIA report takes the lid off the contemplation of the internal medical officers working in the investigative agency's detention. It also reveals the jarring interrogation system that supposedly caused a friction to their professional ethics but came with an opportunity to prevent terror attacks of any nature in the future. 

ACLU attorney Dror Ladin told AP, "This document tells an essential part of the story of how it was that the CIA came to torture prisoners against the law and helps prevent it from happening again.” 

The documents note that "Versed was one of the safest and most easily reversed benzodiazepines" and that "it also afforded some amnesia, a sometimes desirable secondary effect."

"A downside was a requirement for (presumably) physician-assisted intravenous administration," it adds, noting that LSD could be administered "silently," they note.

Right after the twin-tower attack, between 2002-2007, CIA doctors, psychologists, physician assistants, and nurses were a part of the interrogation program. They were responsible for evaluating, monitoring and looking after 97 detainees in 10 secret CIA facilities in foreign lands and even accompanied detainees on over 100 flights.

The Al-Qaeda mastermind behind 9/11 attacks, Khaled Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded 140 times, the CIA medical officer said, the experience of drowning "provide periodic relief from his standing sleep deprivation”

The report cites many occasions where medical staff expressed concern or protected the health of the detainees. Those who were thrown up against walls — a practice called “walling” — had their necks protected from whiplash by rolled towels around their necks, the report said.

As per reports, ACLU commenting on the exposed documents said that the CIA torture left behind a legacy of broken bodies and traumatized minds. 

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While the CIA’s harsh interrogation program ended in 2007, the ACLU believes it’s important to continue seeking the release of documents about it, especially since President Donald Trump declared during his campaign that he would approve interrogating terror suspects with waterboarding, which is now banned by U.S. law, and a “hell of a lot worse.”