WASHINGTON -- A newly released Bush administration legal memo claims that the president has an unfettered right to transfer suspected terrorists to other governments without regard for whether they would be subject to torture.

The Justice Department released nine legal opinions showing that, following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Bush administration determined that certain constitutional rights would not apply during the coming fight. Within two weeks, government lawyers were already discussing ways to wiretap U.S. conversations without warrants.

The memo appears to underpin the Bush administration's use of extraordinary rendition. That was a secret program of moving terror detainees to nations where they were imprisoned and, in some cases, reportedly tortured. One of those nine documents was a memo that detailed the Bush administration's expansive definition of presidential power.

The Obama administration also acknowledged in court documents Monday that the CIA destroyed 92 videos involving terror suspects, including interrogations.

When the memo was written nearly seven years ago, the White House legal office had already decided that al-Qaida and Taliban detainees were not protected by the Geneva Conventions governing the treatment of prisoners of war.

The author of the memo, John Yoo, that the president could treat terrorist suspects in the United States like an invading foreign army. He also suggested that the government could put new restrictions on the press and speech.

"First Amendment speech and press rights may also be subordinated to the overriding need to wage war successfully," Yoo wrote, adding later: "The current campaign against terrorism may require even broader exercises of federal power domestically."

CIA Director Leon Panetta has said the U.S. will continue to engage in extraordinary rendition but will use it rarely and will be more selective where prisoners are sent.