Mapping state responsibility in the CIA war on terror

This chapter focuses on state responsibility for wrongful acts resulting from intelligence activities in the CIA-led rendition, detention, and interrogation programme. The programme constituted the trigger for the first-ever international accountability processes for wrongful acts resulting from intelligence activities, all around the world. I analyse the programme and the various forms of state cooperation from the perspective of state responsibility, empirically demonstrating how the first layer of regulation (legality) applies to all sorts of intelligence activities and forms of state conduct. Following a summary of the most relevant factual, legal, and political elements of the CIA programme, I identify the applicable legal framework underlying US responsibility and map cooperating states’ responsibility for participation in the programme. The case-study confirms that the first layer of regulation (legality) encompasses and applies to all intelligence activities and forms of cooperation.