Almost immediately after the 9/11 attacks , Bush administration officials conferring by video link from bunkers decided to treat the attacks as acts of war , rather than merely crimes . The question arose : were captured prisoners to be treated as prisoners of war ? Officials including Justice Department lawyer John Yoo recommended classifying them as " detainees " outside the protection of the Geneva Conventions or any other domestic or military law , and incarcerating them in special prisons instead of the barracks-like " prisoner-of-war camp you saw in Hogan 's Heroes or Stalag 17 . " On September 17 , 2001 , President Bush signed a still-classified directive giving the CIA the power to secretly imprison and interrogate detainees
9/11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Enhanced interrogation techniques