Psychology Tactics in Military Interrogations



Contents

Introduction4

Discussion5

Enhanced Interrogation in Military5

Effectiveness of Enhanced Interrogation6

Psychological Tactics Used in Military Interrogations6

Isolation6

Sleep Deprivation7

Stress Positions7

Sensory Bombardment8

Forced Nudity8

Sexual Humiliation8

Cultural Humiliation9

Phobias9

Water Boarding9

Psychological Approaches Used in Military Interrogations10

The Futility Technique Approach10

The "We Know All" Approach10

File and Dossier Approach10

Pride-and-ego down11

Reid technique11

The Decreased Fear Down Approach11

The “Friend And Foe” or “Mutt And Jeff” Approach11

Establish Your Identity12

Conclusion12

References13

Psychological Tactics in Military Interrogations

Introduction

In the wake of September 11, 2001 and the following "war-on-terror", the importance of contribution of psychologist to U.S. national security has been both underlined and debated than ever (Olson, Soldz & Davis, 2008). Since the attacks of 11 September 2001, psychological tactics and methods employed by the United States in the twelve years to obtain intelligence from human subjects have gone through increased debate and focus (Semel, 2013). Undoubtedly, nothing assures a criminal conviction more than a confession. However, getting a confession is no easy task, particularly a confession that will sustain in court. To get over natural impulse of a suspect to refute culpability—and to fend off having an interrogation halted by a request for a lawyer— sophisticated interviewing techniques have been developed by criminal justice specialists that apply subtle psychological tactics and manipulation to disclose the truth. A diverse array of psychologically manipulative interrogation techniques are commonly employed by military and Intelligence agencies with the aim of bringing out a confession or procuring information from the subjects of interrogation including the victims, suspects, or witnesses of a crime. There are several tactics employed in interrogation encompassing the use of mind-altering drugs, deception, increasing suggestibility, and forced nudity etc. A great controversy is associated with the use of these tactics and many people believe that they are fundamentally means of torture and unlawful under the Geneva Convention. According to Gudjonsson, (1992), psychologically deceptive and manipulative interrogation tactics have the potential to make happen false confessions. This paper seeks to shed light on the psychological tactics and approaches employed in military interrogation. The psychological tactics, in reference to the “war on terror” particularly will also be discussed in this paper.

Discussion

Enhanced Interrogation in Military

Enhanced interrogation techniques are tactics used by the George W. Bush administration after the September 11 attacks. risoners with enhanced interrogation techniques can give up information easily. Basoglu suggests, this may be due to the torture victim stimulates the body to release opioids for pain relief, and this process will start more quickly to repeated pain.

Coercive interrogation is a framework that is based on an untested and not supported in large part of consideration. On the face of it, coercive interrogation model seems to make sense data interrogator wants to know, and the topic is, but does not give any information. Military pressure is applied to break the defense to set up the topic, which will then translate the information you want. "You see this pattern repeated in movies and TV series such as 24," said O'Mara.

Psychologists versed in the "SERE" program of military, i.e. Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape program, which was meant to train American soldiers in ...