DOJ Office of Legal Counsel and the 2002–2005 memoranda

The Office of Legal Counsel in the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building produced legal memoranda in 2002–2005 (commonly called the “torture memos”) that provided legal rationales for so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques" used by the CIA. Those memoranda were cited in policymaking that enabled overseas detention and interrogation programs later described as CIA "black sites." The opinions were subsequently withdrawn or repudiated by later DOJ officials and criticized in congressional investigations and reports.