White House Interrogation Unit: A New Nightmare for Interrogators!
White House Interrogation Unit:
A New Nightmare for Interrogators!
Stan B. Walters
The White House has created another nightmare scenario and announced the formation of a new Terrorism Interrogation Unit. The unit will be under the umbrella of the FBI, contain members of multiple agencies but the White House will supervise the interrogations. All the while, following the Army Manual for interrogation. (See www.us.army.mil to get a copy of the manual)
See: Obama Adminstration Sets Up New Interrogation Unit
This is another nightmare scenario by an administration that has no idea what the heck they are doing. Every criminal and intelligence interviewer and interrogator knows you should not have more than two to three people in the room during and interrogation – counting the suspect. Well, just as important if not more so, there the interrogator can have too many people inside his head during the interrogation!
How can any decent interrogator focus on the task of getting critical information, forming questions, reading responses, following the subject’s line of thought, keeping in mind the level of proof they need to make a criminal or intelligence case and also worry about the judgment of a bunch of detached, ill-informed, biased, politically and career motivated self-serving bureaucrats in another room hundreds or thousands of miles away! He or she will have too many in their head as they try to interview every witness or interrogate as suspect thereby crippling the entire process. The interrogator must be totally focused on the case and the subject they are interviewing.
In addition, bureaucracies are notorious for treating everything with a single template. Unique or unusual situations or conditions are not tolerated because they don’t fit the “model.” A quick review of the Army Manual for Interrogation can see where such a concept can cripple the interrogator. Just as no two people are alike, neither are two interrogations! There is no “template” by which all criminal or intelligence interrogations can be conducted.
I’m not saying there shouldn’t be some guidelines for interrogations or that interrogators shouldn’t have standards of conduct. By all means, spell out those guidelines but get the hell out of the way of the investigator and interrogator and let them perform the job!
It is my opinion that some of the many possible reasons we have had trouble with the interrogations are 1) there is no consistency in the techniques that are taught, 2) we are sending some very “green” people in the field who have had to conduct complex interrogations and they are over their head, 3) techniques that are being taught are loaded with a bunch of unproven, unscientific techniques and when you have that type of situation, the investigator or interrogator in the field is going to get frustrated and is going get very creative to find to something does work.
I’m reminded of a scene from the old TV show MASH. Radar has Lt. Col. Henry Blake signing a mountain of paperwork for the second time. Blake asks “Radar, do you understand all this stuff?” Radar responds, “No sir, I try not to. It slows down the process.”
Just my opinion but I’ve got 30-plus years of studying, researching, writing, teaching, AND conducting all types of interrogations.
I’d still like to know what you think!
Stan
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