国际英语新闻：U.S. gov't approves creation of new unit on terrorism interrogation

WASHINGTON, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. government announced on Monday the establishment of a new unit on terrorism-related interrogation, which was charged by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the Bush administration.

    Deputy White House spokesman Bill Burton told reporters that the unit, which will be located at the Federal Bureau of Investigation's headquarters in Washington, D.C., will include "all these different elements under one group" and will be directly supervised by the White House.

    The new interrogation unit, which will be known by the acronym HIG, will be led by an FBI official and an intelligence official as a deputy, Burton said.

    The move was considered as a sign that President Barack Obama is further distancing his administration from the previous government on the policy of interrogating terrorist suspects, as away to end years of debates over the torture issue.

    During the Bush administration, the CIA has been playing dominant and exclusive role in interrogating terrorist suspects, and widely criticized for abusing and torturing detainees.

    But the Obama administration has ordered all U.S. interrogators to follow the rules for detainees set by the U.S. Army Field Manual.

    However, Burton noted that the establishment of the new unit does not mean the CIA is now totally out of the interrogation business.