Timothy Flanigan

Timothy Flanigan represented Bush in planning of torture policies

Literally from the day the towers collapsed, Tim Flanigan represented Bush’s White House in top-level meetings aimed at overcoming all limits on executive-branch authority; more specifically, he strategized with Cheney and Addington, often aided by John Yoo, to outflank Congress, the State Department, generals, and admirals whenever they attempted to intervene in such matters as detention, rendition, torture, and wiretapping. Flanigan’s work set up the bureaucratic and legalistic protection for programs of extreme interrogation, black sites, and indefinite detention.

Timothy Flanigan's primary goal was to protect war criminals

While Addington undertook the political hardball involved in these actions and Yoo contributed intellectual theorizing, Flanigan, as Gonzales's deputy in the Office of White House Counsel, worked mostly behind the scenes, looking out for Bush's interest. He took care that all paperwork was in order to keep the programs as secret as possible and to protect the President should the activity ever come to light.