Military Interrogations Study

I am conducting a study to determine what MIs believe are the best interrogation methods for gaining cooperation from a subject. My study is designed to address some of the gaps in knowledge about interrogations conducted by military interrogators and their counterparts in federal counterterrorism agencies in the United States and provide information about methods from their perspectives and based on their experiences.

I plan to post a survey on a secure web server and solicit MIs to complete the 15 minute survey anonymously. I will collect no personal information other than branch of service and gender. If you are a MI and are interested in participating in this study in any way please contact me.

Participants will be asked to estimate, rate and self-report on seven facets of their work: (1) their ability to detect truth or deception; (2) for military interrogators, their own opinions and practices with regard to 13 of the general approach techniques authorized by the U.S. Army Intelligence and Interrogation Handbook; (3) the importance of rapport building to extract information from a subject; (4) the applicability of law enforcement techniques to interrogations of terrorists; (5) the frequency, length and timing of interrogations; (6) training, and (7) their observations, if any, of others using unapproved techniques during interrogations and, if so, with what frequency. The goal here is to obtain common practices, observations, and beliefs about interrogations directly from military interrogators and counterterrorism agents.

Social science can help establish what are the most effective techniques and can be of great benefit to U.S. human intelligence gathering.