ABSTRACT
This chapter concentrates on the emergence of safeguards that aim to protect non-US citizens beyond US territory against torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment by the US military and intelligence agencies. The chapter focuses on two safeguards: the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 and Executive Order 13491: Ensuring Lawful Interrogations of 2009, as well as the latter’s codification into law through the McCain–Feinstein Amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016. The chapter shows that the Detainee Treatment Act was a response to a shaming campaign that seriously tarnished the United States’ reputation. By contrast, Executive Order 13491 and the McCain–Feinstein Amendment were the result of strategic learning, triggered by a number of different arguments as to why more comprehensive anti-torture safeguards were in the United States’ strategic interest.
