High Value Detainee

A High Value Detainee was a term used in George W. Bush Administration policy documents to refer to persons believed to either to know critical information of terrorist threats against the United States, and to constitute a continuing danger if released. These were the individuals for whom specific authorization was given to use enhanced interrogation techniques, which went beyond the methods generally accepted as within U.S. and international law as defined in military interrogation guidance. The methods, however, were used within an initial framework legal guidance that they did not constitute torture, although at least one method, waterboarding, has subsequently been deemed torture by U.S. officials such as Susan Crawford, convening authority of Military Commissions.

The original definition, provided by a Central Intelligence Agency assistant general counsel, whose name was redacted from the released document, was:

"A detainee who, at time of capture, we have reason to believe:

1. is a senior member of al-Qaeda or an al-Qaida associated terrorist group (Jemaah Islamiyyah, Egyptian Islamic Jihad, al-Zarqawi Group, etc.)
2. has knowledge of imminent terrorist threats against the USA, its military forces, its citizens and organizations, or its allies, or that has/had direct involvement in planning and preparing terrorist actions against the USA or its allies, or assisting the al-Qaeda leadership in planning and preparing such terrorist actions; and
3. if released, constitutes a clear and continuing threat to the USA or its allies.:

Persons in this category, listed by the apparently most common name in biographical information, include:

1. Ammar al-Baluchi
2. Haytham al-Kini
3. Abu Zubaydah
4. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
5. Hambali
6. Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi
7. Lillie
8. Majid Khan
9. Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri
10. Abu Faraj
11. Ramzi Bin al-Shibh
12. Zubair
13. Khallad
14. Gouled Hassan Dourad