However, Obama's changes may not be absolute. His advisers are considering adding a classified loophole to the rules that could allow the CIA to use some interrogation methods not specifically authorized by the Pentagon, the officials said.
The new rules would abandon a part of President Bush's counterterrorism policy that has been condemned internationally.
Obama spokeswoman Brooke Anderson did not have an immediate comment yesterday about the drafted plans, which the two officials discussed only on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
No final decisions have been made about how to adjust the government's interrogation standards. Obama is still weighing whether to alter interrogation policy by executive order during his first days in office or working with Congress through legislation.
The plans do not specifically address the issue of extraordinary rendition, the policy of transferring foreign terrorism suspects to third countries without court approval.
In private Capitol Hill meetings, the nominee for CIA director, Leon Panetta, and the designate for director of national intelligence, Dennis Blair, have said Obama wants a single set of rules for interrogations. And in Senate testimony Thursday, attorney general nominee Eric Holder called the Army manual "a good place to start."
The 384-page Army manual, last updated in September 2006, is a publicly available document. It authorizes 19 interrogation methods used to question prisoners, including one allowing a detainee to be isolated from other detainees in some cases. The manual explicitly prohibits threats, coercion, physical abuse, and waterboarding, which creates the sensation of drowning. Holder termed waterboarding a form of torture on Thursday.
The CIA also banned waterboarding in 2006 but otherwise has been secretive about how it conducts interrogations.
