The CIA hired a subsidiary company of Boeing named Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc. to transport the people it kidnapped to Egypt, Morocco, and Afghanistan where they were tortured. That’s the allegation of five of those who were abducted and tortured. They have sued this company. They’ve lost their case several times, including all the way to the Supreme Court. The reason given by the courts is that the case cannot proceed because it would reveal state secrets and endanger national security.
But that claim is totally illogical. If this company didn’t do this with the CIA, then there is no state secret. If it did do this, then the secret has been revealed already. All that a court proceeding can do is confirm that a state secret has already been revealed. What the CIA wishes to prevent is not the secret that is already out of the bag. It wishes to prevent any court or other inquiry into its activities that might restrain them. The same goes for the President and Department of Justice who joined the case against the plaintiffs. So we have here the executive branch maintaining its power to kidnap, torture, detain indefinitely, and assassinate by hiding behind the magical phrases of “state secrets” and “national security.”
