An Atlanta federal appeals court ruled that demonstrators who attend protests at what was formerly known as the School of the Americas (SOA) in Fort Benning, Georgia will no longer be forced to submit to metal detector searches before attending demonstrations. The SOA re-named the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation in 2001, has trained Latin American soldiers in counterinsurgency techniques, sniper training, commando and psychological warfare, military intelligence and interrogation tactics since 1946. Many SOA graduates have been charged with human rights atrocities.