The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) has released a report that investigated the case of a Canadian citizen, Maher Arar, who was taken into U.S. custody in 2002 and removed to Syria, where he was held by authorities for fourteen months. Two House committees held a hearing June 5 on allegations of torture that Arar says occurred during his imprisonment.

The report was requested four and a half years ago by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, but it falls short of a full disclosure of the facts and policies that led to the imprisonment and alleged torture of a Canadian citizen. The House Committee on the Judiciary's Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties and the House Committee on Foreign Affairs' Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight held a joint hearing on June 5 to investigate the case.

In September 2002, Arar was traveling from Switzerland to Canada with a layover in New York. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) took Arar into custody because an airport screening indicated that he was a high risk. The INS contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which conducted a series of interviews with Arar over the next several days. The U.S. government alleged that Arar was associated with Al Qaeda. Arar was transported to New Jersey, then Washington, DC, and eventually to Amman, Jordan, where he was transferred to Syrian officials. Fourteen months later, in October 2003, the Syrian government released and returned Arar to Canada.

Arar successfully sued the Canadian government for its cooperation with the U.S. in his transfer to Syria and the alleged torture that ensued. The U.S. courts, however, have thrown out Arar's suits against the U.S. government because government lawyers have claimed the state secrets privilege. Although, according to a report by Harpers, U.S. officials have secretly admitted wrongdoing in sending Arar to Syria and asserting ties with Al Qaeda, the government has failed to publicly acknowledge their mistakes or pay any reparation to Arar.

In 2003, Chairman Conyers requested an investigation of the matter, and it took DHS's OIG over four years to complete the investigation and release a report. The OIG report, however, is heavily redacted and falls short of a full disclosure of the events that transpired, the mistakes made, and the policy of rendition which led to the mistakes. Even the Inspector General's recommended policy changes are redacted as classified.

Furthermore, the OIG has objected to the release of paragraphs that are not classified and has even failed to disclose summaries of such paragraphs. The OIG, moreover, fails to appropriately explain the rationale for the numerous redactions. "It would be my view that those [unclassified] paragraphs should be publicly released," stated former DHS Inspector General Clark Ervin, who initiated the investigation in 2003.

After reviewing the unclassified OIG report, the House Judiciary Committee objected to many of the redactions. The committee requested a paragraph-by-paragraph rationale for the markings, but the OIG has denied such a request. Ervin stated that the OIG may not be legally required to provide such rationales but has "an obligation to provide an explanation for the view that [redacted] information should be classified."

As it stands, the OIG report is an additional effort to cover up the mistakes made in the case of Maher Arar. Essential facts and the needed policy changes are redacted, preventing oversight of the agency's progress in implementing changes. The OIG has an obligation to undertake a full investigation of failed policies and mistaken decisions and to provide public access to its findings.