ABOUT THOSE TASK FORCES...

It's not exactly burying the lede, but in the middle of this New York Times report on Bagram prison, which reveals that conditions at the facility are still poor--though apparently better than at locally run prisons--is this aside about the task forces on detention, rendition, and interrogation:

The Defense and Justice Departments are leading two government task forces studying those issues and are scheduled to deliver reports to the president on Tuesday.

But administration officials said Sunday that the task forces — which are grappling with questions like whether terrorism suspects should be turned over to other countries and how to deal with detainees who are thought to be dangerous but who cannot be brought to trial — were likely to seek extensions on some contentious issues.

Just judging by some of what was heard in the Congressional hearings on the military commissions a couple of weeks ago, this likely includes things like preventive detention and the admission of hearsay evidence against terror suspects. I'm also guessing that the longer the task forces take to figure these things out, the less likely it is that Guantanamo Bay prison is to be closed by the end of the year. Although that was looking increasingly unlikely anyway.

On a related note, one area in which the task forces seem to be making headway is in the issue of alternative, non-coercive interrogation techniques not discussed in the Army Field Manual, which all agents of the U.S. government have been compelled to follow since January. Spencer Ackerman reports:

Nothing in the task force’s recommendations would approach “extreme physical or mental discomfort,” an official told TWI, as Obama’s executive order has banned any such approaches and revoked all Justice Department legal foundations for the CIA’s enhanced interrogation program, and there are “no signs those measures work.” The official added that within the bounds of the executive order’s torture ban, the task force’s discussion on interrogation approaches centered on “what works, what’s known to work, and not have an extreme price on it.”

-- A. Serwer