The directive calls for humane treatment but does not define it, leaving the issue to a separate directive that is still being debated, said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman.

Signed by acting Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England on November 5, the directive sets a broad policy on which a new army field manual on interrogations and other rules will be based, he said.

It applies to all US military personnel, civilian defense contractors and other government agencies conducting interrogations of prisoners under US military control, according to the document.

Whitman said it was the first time the Defense Department has issued such a directive articulating policy on interrogations.

"All captured or detained personnel shall be treated humanely, and all intelligence interrogations, debriefings or tactical questioning to gain intelligence from captured or detained personnel shall be conducted humanely, in accordance with applicable law and policy," the directive states.

"Acts of physical and mental torture are prohibited," it said.

The law of war, relevant international law, US law, and other directives should be applied, it said.

They include a yet to be approved directive on detention policy that will define what is meant by humane treatment, Whitman said.

"That particular document is still in final coordination. It will establish the requirements and the policies for holding, for processing, for transferring and releasing detainees, among other things," he said.

"That is also the one that will define some of the parameters associated with humane treatment," he said.

Debate within the administration has flared over whether humane treatment of prisoners should be defined with language taken directly from the Geneva Conventions.

The United States has long refused to extend Geneva Convention protections to prisoners captured in the war against al-Qaeda and other extremist groups, while pledging to treat them humanely.

Adding fuel to the torture debate is last week's revelation by the Washington Post that since September 11, 2001 top al-Qaeda captives have been held in CIA-run prisons in at least eight countries.

The CIA's operations are cloaked in secrecy, and the rules under which it works are not publicly known.

Vice President Dick Cheney has pressed Congress to exempt the intelligence agency from legislation sponsored by Senator John McCain that would ban "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of prisoners in the detention of the US government."

President George W. Bush weighed in on Monday, saying he was working with Congress to "make it possible -- more possible -- to do our job."

"Our country is at war, and our government has the obligation to protect the American people," he said. "Anything we do to that end, in that effort, any activity we conduct, is within the law. We do not torture."

The Defense Department interrogations policy reaffirms other practices, some of them controversial.

It allows medical records of detainees to be released "for all lawful purposes... including release for any lawful intelligence or national security-related activity."

Behavioral science consultants are authorized to make psychological assessments of interrogation subjects, and to advise interrogators.

"Those who provide such advice may not provide medical care for detainees except in an emergency when no other health care providers can respond adequately," the document said.

Medical personnel will make decisions regarding medical treatment of detainees and must promptly report suspected abuses. Detainees determined to be medically unfit will not be interrogated, it said.

Prison guards cannot participate in interrogations but they are expected to report on detainee behavior, attitudes and relationships that are relevant to the interrogations.

The directive prohibits the use of dogs in interrogations or to threaten, initmidate or coerce a detainee for interrogation purposes.

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