assistance to detainees held unlawfully or in abusive conditions. As a result, federal intelligence agencies now have broad instructions with respect to interrogations of detainees abroad. In March 2006, the German Chancellor’s office ordered federal intelligence agencies—the BND and the BfV—to observe the following principles: • • • • • Interrogations should not take place with the goal of using the information in criminal procedures, and law enforcement personnel should not participate; Interrogations are to take place in close coordination with competent authorities in the country concerned; The detainee must voluntarily agree to the interrogation; The interrogation should not take place, or should be terminated, if there is concrete evidence that the person concerned is subject to torture; and The parliamentary oversight committee must be informed after any such interrogation takes place.103 Human Rights Watch is unaware of any specific guidelines or instructions in Germany on the handling of information provided by a foreign intelligence service where there are serious grounds for believing the information may have been obtained through torture or illtreatment. Use of Torture Material as Intelligence During the previous Christian Democrat—Social Democrat coalition government, German officials made it clear that they will use foreign torture intelligence as necessary. Then Federal Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said in 2005, If we were to say, that we would never use, under any circumstances, information of which we cannot be sure that it was obtained under perfect rule-of-law conditions – that would be totally irresponsible. We must use such information.104 Heinz Fromm, the chief of Germany’s Federal Bureau for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, BfV)—the domestic intelligence service—also clarified that, 103 Beschlussempfehlung und Bericht des 1. Untersuchungsausschusses nach Artikel 44 des Grundgesetzes. Deutscher Bundestag, 16 Wahlperiode, Druchsache 16/13400, June 18, 2009, p. 630. 104 “Schauble will Foltergestaendnisse nutzen,” Spiegel Online, December 12, 2005, www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,390709,00.html (accessed November 25, 2009). “No Questions Asked” 38