Educing Information: Interrogation - National Intelligence University

The fundamental objective of an interrogation is to collect useful information,
and that information must be recorded in a manner that will ensure it can be
faithfully incorporated in formal reporting. In a bygone era, taking notes was the
only realistic option. The information age, however, which makes an astonishing
array of technical devices available to surreptitiously capture the sounds and
images of an interrogation, presents the interrogator with a host of attractive
options that yield significant operational benefits.
As noted above, the simple act of taking notes provides the source with a
graphic reminder of the interrogator’s primary goal — the collection of actionable
intelligence — despite the well-orchestrated approaches designed to disguise that
intent. In addition, when the interrogator appears to make note only of exchanges
pertaining to certain topics, this not only transmits to the source an indicator of
what is important to the interrogator, but also strongly hints at what the interrogator
does and does not know.
There are myriad reasons to employ monitoring, audiovisual recording, and
transcription technology to relieve the interrogator of this counter-productive
burden, from the ability to accurately capture the information provided by the
source to the opportunity to carefully analyze the source’s behavioral cues, to
providing a visual record of events to guard against the mistreatment of prisoners
(and unfounded allegations of prisoner abuse). In contrast, there is really no
compelling reason for interrogators not to avail themselves of this advantage
(where available). The promise of technology, in the form of field-deployable
recording equipment and well-designed, well-equipped, long-term interrogation
facilities, should be expeditiously embraced. The return on investment would
likely be extraordinary.
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