Educing Information: Interrogation - National Intelligence University

too frequently construed as evidence that the individual possesses an uncommon
ability to make rapid and valid assessments of a source with little background
information or direct exposure to support that judgment.
While extensive and consistent experience in interrogation can offer a
person the opportunity to develop above-average assessment skills, this ability
is contingent upon several important factors. First, each assessment must be
subsequently evaluated to determine validity (once additional corroborating or
contradicting information is available) and the method(s) used explicitly described,
deconstructed, and recorded to definitively capture that cause and effect for
future study and possible employment. Second, the key processes used in a given
assessment should be examined, evaluated, and corroborated or discredited by
trained behavioral science professionals. Finally, the individual interrogator must
be sufficiently disciplined to avoid drawing unsupported, possibly self-serving
conclusions as to his or her assessment skills. In this regard, it would be helpful to
keep in mind the caveat set forth in the KUBARK manual: An interrogation is not
a game played by two people, one to become the winner and the other the loser.
Assessment, in the context of interrogation, is a multi-dimensional concept.
The interrogator must be able to effectively — and accurately — assess a source’s
emotional state, psychological set, veracity, and knowledgeability. Individuals
cannot attain the ability to meet such a broad-based challenge successfully in
a single, even months-long training course. Training in assessment must begin
early in an interrogator’s professional preparation and be followed by continuous
study, research, and practice. Although a considerable body of knowledge already
exists in this area and could be profitably mined for supporting techniques and
procedures, new and original studies of assessment in the unique context of
interrogation are needed.
Analytical Support to Interrogation
The interrogator should be supported whenever possible by
qualified analysts’ review of his daily “take;” experience has
shown that such a review will raise questions to be put and
points to be clarified and lead to a thorough coverage of the
subject in hand. 41
In prosecuting the Global War on Terror, the targets of primary interest
from both an operational and intelligence perspective are terrorism’s critical
centers of gravity: financing, transportation, logistics, communications, and safe
havens. Just as it would not be reasonable to expect any single analyst to be an
accomplished subject matter expert in more than one (or possibly two) of these
areas, it should not be assumed that any single interrogator can be prepared to
explore the full knowledgeability of sources who have information pertaining to
these key target areas. It is therefore important for interrogators to have on-scene
analytical support for precisely the purposes identified in the above quotation.
41
KUBARK, 13.
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