A federal judge has backed CIA efforts to conceal information about treatment of detainees, even if the suppressed records contain details about illegal activity on the part of the intelligence agency.

U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein ruled that he was unwilling to “second-guess the CIA Director regarding the appropriateness of any particular intelligence source or method,” while rejecting the American Civil Liberties Union ’s request to obtain records related to the treatment of detainees, those who died in U.S. custody and the names of anyone kidnapped and sent to secret prisons.

ACLU Deputy Legal Director Jameel Jaffer said his organization was “dismayed” by Hellerstein’s decision, which could be construed as giving the CIA “a license to suppress evidence of criminal activity.”

-Noel Brinkerhoff