FBI Wants To "Advance the Science of Interrogation"

coondoggie writes "From deep in the Department of Creepy today I give this item: The FBI this week put out a call for new research 'to advance the science and practice of intelligence interviewing and interrogation.' The part of the FBI that is requesting the new research isn't out in the public light very often: the High Value Detainee Interrogation Group, which according to the FBI was chartered in 2009 by the National Security Council and includes members of the CIA and Department of Defense, to 'deploy the nation's best available interrogation resources against detainees identified as having information regarding terrorist attacks against the United States and its allies.'"

This is one area we've regressed.

[Anonymous Coward]

They had it pretty much perfected during the Inquisition. We've slid backwards since then.

Re:Quite the opposite.

[qbzzt]

Torture, by itself, only makes the victims say whatever they think the torturer wants them to say.

However, if the interrogator already has some information, s/he can teach the victim that lying causes pain in a way that saying the truth doesn't. If victims don't know the exact extent of the interrogator's knowledge, they'll be afraid to lie.

Re:This is one area we've regressed.

[Anonymous Coward]

Exactly. Research has shown that people under torture become prone to fantasy, and are no longer able to distinguish between memory and imagination.

Interrogation is a form of control

[elucido]

And that is one of the problems with it. If you ask any question in the right way you can get any answer.

So basically it's about the method of interrogation that determines the result. So if they want someone to admit to being a terrorist they could get 99% of people to admit that if they used the right interrogation methods. This is the problem with "enhanced" interrogation. It's asking someone a question while in the backround applying coercion tactics so they answer it the way you want them to.

So the question stands why do we need to have this capability in the first place? Who exactly is it for? Every human is going to break under interrogation, and that break will be psychological, physical, or both, so whats the point?

If the goal is just to break people then why help them advance the science of destroying people?

Re:This is one area we've regressed.

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe they could MIND THEIR OWN FUCKING BUSINESS and stay out of countries that (rightfully) hate us.

Yeah i know. Totally insane... Lets go kill and torture more brown people who don't agree with us.

Re:Quite the opposite. Britains Experience

[AssholeMcGee]

Back in world war II Britain found out and proved torture technics DO NOT work. They tried this on German Officers and solders only to find out either they knew nothing or were pissed off at the way they were treated and flat out lied to watch Britain waste there time and efforts to supply false recon or intelligence to there own troops. They realized this was not working. and figured out something different. They offered them immunity and placed them in a government building which looks more or less like a mansion, wired the building for eavesdropping on there talks, they gave them the luxuries like cigars, alcohol, ect... Allowed them to parade around or dress in there uniforms. Sure enough they started mouthing off over positions of there troops, what ammo, artillery, tanks ect.. each group had. They did this in a much shorter time, or quicker then the info they got from torture. You see these same tactics used by police officers, detectives, and the FBI to get a suspect to open up and talk, they even watch what words they use, and act like they are sympathetic to the suspects upbringing. They also do simple things like ask his side of the story or ask if they know this or that person, leave the room for an extended time (on purpose) then come back and say, this person knows you and you lied about not knowing them. This same person claimed you were talking about that night, or they know you were involved, BLA BLA you see a pattern.. They also watch body gestures, eye movement, there posture, this however really does not prove or show anything, they could be nervous or they could be involved with something else, IE be in a gang and by them just getting arrested they will have to answer for to the gang, or it something else illegal and not related to the crime they are being interrogated for.

Re:This is one area we've regressed.

[aaaaaaargh!]

While we're at it, we should also mention MI6's method for high-valued prisoners. They rented a villa as accommodation for German POWs. It appeared to be an improvised makeshift housing, but was very luxurious. The Germans were mostly left alone, playing pool billiard and drinking scotch, and soon got rather bored. They even received an English newspaper. However, the newspaper was fake and reported great successes of English troops. The German officers became so concerned over the bad news that they started discussing them amongst themselves, trying to discern propaganda from reality and so on. Of course, the whole house was bugged and they freely gave away information that they would likely have kept to themselves even under torture.

I guess nowadays this wouldn't work, but it's nice to know that it seems to have worked.