Educing Information: Interrogation - National Intelligence University

Alice in Wonderland: The Power of Applied Confusion
The aim of the Alice in Wonderland or confusion technique is
to confound the expectations and conditioned reactions of the
interrogatee. He is accustomed to a world that makes sense, at
least to him: a world of continuity and logic, a predictable world.
He clings to this world to reinforce his identity and powers of
resistance. The confusion technique is designed not only to
obliterate the familiar, but to replace it with the weird…as the
process continues, day after day as necessary, the subject begins
to try to make sense of the situation, which becomes mentally
intolerable…he is likely to make significant admissions, or even
to pour out his story. 88
SERE psychologists have identified the inability to effectively forecast
near-term events as a major stressor in the detention environment. Adults grow
accustomed to having a reasonable degree of control over their lives, which
enables them to make accurate predictions about basic events such as when they
go to sleep, when they wake up, when they eat, and when they use the toilet. In
addition, if they find themselves encountering unpleasant circumstances (e.g., an
annoying neighbor, a time-wasting work associate, etc.), it is normally within
their power to escape those stressful situations at will (or least minimize the time
spent engaged with the unattractive individual). In detention, avoidance may not
be an option.
The KUBARK principle described in the passage above suggests that an
interrogator is able to generate a significant degree of pressure on a source through
the purposeful creation of confusing circumstances that effectively remove the
source’s ability to make predictions. In effect, the source struggles to find a
familiar logic to the chain of events, the nature of the interactions, and purpose of
the exchanges with the interrogator. As the struggle proves unsuccessful, the level
of stress can dramatically rise to an exceptionally uncomfortable level. According
to the KUBARK manual, sources may offer up information to the interrogator in
an effort to overtly introduce “sense” to their chaotic circumstances. In discussing
that information, the source has recaptured a degree of comforting predictability.
From the source’s perspective, the experience of being detained and
interrogated would seem to have inherent elements of disorder and ambiguity.
The effect this has on a given source (negative or positive) would appear, then,
to be directly correlated with each source’s need for order and level of comfort/
discomfort with ambiguity. While the literature on Communist methods of
interrogation frequently references the value of confusion in obtaining compliance,
it is less clear as it applies to obtaining relevant, accurate information. Perhaps
additional study is warranted on the effects of confusion as well as a means for
rapidly assessing a source’s tolerance for disorder and ambiguity.
88
KUBARK, 76.
129