The existence of the memos was revealed in a New York Times article (“Secret US Endorsement of Severe Interrogations,” by Scott Shane, David Johnston, and James Risen) published on Thursday. None of these opinions or memos have been released to the public.

The authors highlight the attempt by Justice Department lawyers, under the leadership of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, to conceal the illegal actions of the administration and allow its policy to continue despite an unfavorable Supreme Court ruling and a bill prohibiting “cruel, inhuman and degrading” treatment.

One memo, a Justice Department legal opinion, was approved by Gonzales shortly after taking the post of attorney general in February 2005. It was “an expansive endorsement of the harshest interrogation techniques ever used by the Central Intelligence Agency,” the Times reports, citing unnamed officials briefed on the memo.

The memo authorized the use in combination of several torture techniques. “The new opinion, the officials said, for the first time provided explicit authorization to barrage terror suspects with a combination of painful physical and psychological tactics, including head-slapping, simulated drowning and frigid temperatures.”

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