black site

[blak sahyt]

noun

1. a location that is never publicly acknowledged as existing, where secret military and defense operations, including the detention and interrogation of suspected terrorists, are conducted out of reach of the law and normal systems of oversight.

   Thailand was likely the first country to host a CIA black site, where suspected 9/11 terrorists were detained.

black site

noun

1. a secret facility used by a country's military as a prison and interrogation centre, whose existence is denied by the government

Word History and Origins

Origin of black site¹

First recorded in 2005–10

Example Sentences

They placed people in black site prisons and used systematic torture against them.

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Cristian Farias, a courts reporter for Vanity Fair, told Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick that “to file a habeas petition is basically what ensures that you won’t be sent to a black site or put in a prison without ever getting out.”

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To file a habeas petition is basically what ensures that you won’t be sent to a black site or put in a prison without ever getting out.

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For the majority, it was not a close call: The government’s attempt to disappear migrants to a foreign black site is egregiously unconstitutional.

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Donald Trump has his very own “black site” now.

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