NYC judge again sides with CIA on withholding names of harshly treated Sept. 11 detainees

NY judge: CIA can keep secrets despite ACLU demand

NEW YORK — A New York City judge has for a second time denied efforts by the American Civil Liberties Union to force the CIA to release names and documents relating to Sept. 11 detainees who were interrogated harshly.

Lawyers for the ACLU and the government argued before Judge Alvin Hellerstein in Manhattan on Wednesday. The judge says he’s sticking by a September ruling he made that sides with the government.

The ACLU urged the judge to conclude that the government’s use of a form of simulated drowning called waterboarding and other techniques critics deem torture should persuade him to release classified documents.

But the judge said he wasn’t appointed to be director of U.S. intelligence and his job as a judge doesn’t extend to making such national security decisions.