At a border crossing in southeastern Europe, police stopped a German traveler and took his passport. Officers drove him to a hotel, locked him inside a room and refused his requests to contact his embassy. No judge reviewed his detention.
He had no lawyer, no charge sheet and no release date. Somewhere beyond the hotel, officials were deciding where to send him. His family knew nothing about their discussions.
Across several continents, other prisoners faced the same uncertainty. Their captors controlled the lights, the temperature, their food and their sleep. Even the country outside the cell walls became a secret.
Washington described the measures used against such prisoners as necessary to prevent another September 11. Behind the official language stood a program requiring pilots, psychologists, intelligence officers, lawyers and foreign governments.
Understanding how those people worked together explains how a missing traveler ended up inside an American interrogation room thousands of miles from home.