U.S. Will Widen 2 C.I.A. Inquiries Into Jail Deaths

By ERIC LICHTBLAU and ERIC SCHMITT
NYT

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department announced Thursday that it was opening a full criminal investigation into the deaths of two terrorism suspects in C.I.A. custody overseas, but it was closing inquiries into the treatment of nearly 100 other detainees over the last decade.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said that a two-year review by a specially appointed prosecutor, John H. Durham, had determined that any further investigation into that large group of cases “is not warranted.” The inquiry into the two deaths, though, could result in criminal charges against Central Intelligence Agency officers or contractors.

Intelligence officials saw the announcement as a vindication of sorts.

“I welcome the news that the broader inquiries are behind us,” Leon E. Panetta, director of the C.I.A., said in his last day in office before being sworn in Friday as defense secretary. “We are now finally about to close this chapter of our agency’s history.”

(More here.)