Educing Information: Interrogation - National Intelligence University

encountered. Now, however, he does so, and rapport may be
strained. Some interrogatees will take this change personally
and tend to personalize the conflict. The interrogator should
resist this tendency. If he succumbs to it, and becomes engaged
in a battle of wits, he may not be able to accomplish the task at
hand. The second temptation to avoid is the natural inclination
to resort prematurely to ruses and coercive techniques in order
to settle the matter then and there. The basic purpose of the
reconnaissance is to determine the kind and degree of pressure
that will be needed in the third stage. The interrogator should
reserve his fire-power until he knows what he is up against. 72
This passage suggests two very important guidelines for the interrogator. First,
the approach to any source must be measured, systematic, and always outcomeoriented.
What this means is that the interrogator should understand the phased
nature of interrogation, that “victories” sought early can result in later “failures,”
and that — and this is of critical importance — one’s ego should be checked at
the door. The outcome-oriented approach facilitates a more reasoned, objective
interrogation process, with the goal of obtaining actionable intelligence being
primary. In contrast, how the source ultimately views the interrogator (e.g., as
omnipotent, incompetent, clever, a genius, a dunce, etc.) is of little long-term
importance.
The second point refers back to the observations on the dual nature of
interrogation. The interrogator must constantly manage the internal-external
reference dynamic in a manner that best supports the approach(es) being
employed. The interrogator is present, interacting with the source, and appears
to respond (believably so) in appropriate ways to the unfolding events. At the
same time, the interrogator checks his or her natural emotional responses (e.g.,
sympathetic feelings for the source’s plight, anger at the source’s insults, etc.)
and replaces them with fabricated responses — accompanied by nonverbal cues
consistent with the response — that move the interrogation process toward the
desired outcome.
As noted earlier, SERE instructors are required to complete a psychological
examination and interview prior to working directly with students in resistance
role-play exercises. The objective is to screen out those who appear to present
a significant potential for abusing their authority. Psychological screening for
interrogators might incorporate a similar filtering mechanism that would, for
example, attempt to screen out candidates who demonstrate low levels of selfcontrol.
Although the now-famous Zimbardo experiment has shown that even
apparently healthy, stable individuals can succumb to the authoritarian influence
of power, this should not stand in the way of further research to identify
personality traits, belief systems, and/or values that might enable an organization
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KUBARK, 60.
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