"Published with the support of Austrian Science Fund (FWF): PUB 644-G."

3.4 Ad Hoc Reports.

Annex.

It is with great pleasure that the Government of the United States of America presents its Periodic Report to the United Nations Committee Against Torture concerning the implementation of its obligations under the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (hereinafter referred to as “Convention” or “CAT”), pursuant to Article 19 of the Convention. This document constitutes the third, fourth, and fifth periodic reports of the United States.The absolute prohibition of torture is of fundamental importance to the United States. As President Obama stated in his address to the nation on national security, delivered at the National Archives on May 21, 2009: “I can stand here today, as President of the United States, and say without exception or equivocation that we do not torture, and that we will vigorously protect our people while forging a strong and durable framework that allows us to fight terrorism while abiding by the rule of law.” Most recently, in his May 23, 2013 speech at the National Defense University, the President reiterated that the United States has “unequivocally banned torture.”

"Under article 19 of the Convention, each State party has to submit an initial report within one year of the entry into force of the Convention for that State and thereafter a supplementary report (periodic report) every four years. The Committee against Torture has been formed to monitor the implementation of the Convention. At its eleventh session, in 1993, the Committee decided that it would start following the practice of some other UN human rights treaty bodies to adopt concluding observations/comments at the end of the consideration of each State party's report and to use a standard format for the presentation.

This volume provides a thorough commentary on the articles of the Convention against Torture, with historical context and analysis of relevant case law from monitoring bodie and international, regional and domestic courts.

The study edition of book the Los Angeles Times called, "The most extensive review of U.S. intelligence-gathering tactics in generations." This is the complete Executive Summary of the Senate Intelligence Committee's investigation into the CIA's interrogation and detention programs -- a.k.a., The Torture Report. Based on over six million pages of secret CIA documents, the report details a covert program of secret prisons, prisoner deaths, interrogation practices, and cooperation with other foreign and domestic agencies, as well as the CIA's efforts to hide the details of the program from the White House, the Department of Justice, the Congress, and the American people. Over five years in the making, it is presented here exactly as redacted and released by the United States government on December 9, 2014, with an introduction by Daniel J. Jones, who led the Senate investigation. This special edition includes: • Large, easy-to-read format. • Almost 3,000 notes formatted as footnotes, exactly as they appeared in the original report. This allows readers to see obscured or clarifying details as they read the main text. • An introduction by Senate staffer Daniel J. Jones who led the investigation and wrote the report for the Senate Intelligence Committee, and a forward by the head of that committee, Senator Dianne Feinstein.