Educing Information: Interrogation - National Intelligence University

According to the tactical interrogation model, a source should be questioned
as soon as possible after capture to obtain time-perishable intelligence information.
In the strategic interrogation model, the importance of the time component has
less to do with the nature of the intelligence sought than with exploiting a unique
window of vulnerability in the detention experience.
Only a small percentage of military personnel, and a much smaller percentage
of terrorists and insurgents, have been exposed to resistance training that includes
the stress-inoculation of intensive practical exercises. As a result, the trauma and
the perceived chaos of capture — the so-called “shock of capture” — and initial
detention will likely prove profoundly unsettling and cause detainees to do and say
things against their interest that, upon reflection under more stable circumstances,
they would not do or say. In most instances, newly captured detainees expect the
worst in terms of treatment at the hands of the enemy and only later draw strength
from the realization that they will not be killed or brutally tortured. By exploiting
this initial period of overwhelming confusion, the well-trained and prepared
interrogator may be able to obtain useful information through the immediate
questioning of a source.
The shock of capture phenomenon is not necessarily limited to the initial
point of detention. Every time the detainee is transferred to new surroundings — a
new cell, a different wing of the current holding facility, or an entirely new facility
— a measure of shock of capture will likely occur. The detainee can be presented
with a strange setting, a different routine, new guards, and a fresh interrogator. The
rules of engagement in effect at the previous place of confinement may no longer
apply in the new facility. The trauma born of confusion, ambiguity, and negative
expectations can produce a new period of capture shock that an interrogator can
strategically exploit.
A creative and often effective strategy for profiting from the shock of capture
phenomenon is to use a dislocation of expectations approach. For example,
anticipating mistreatment in the hands of the “infidels,” the detainee may steel
himself for the worst, preparing mentally to respond to harsh approaches, abusive
language, and a blatant disregard for personal and cultural preferences. With such
hardened expectations, the detainee may be ill prepared to encounter someone
who affords him better treatment and demonstrates an impressive understanding
of his culture and language. Without a clear strategy at the ready for resisting this
unexpected turn of events, the source may find himself — similar to the situation
described above — responding to questions that he might choose to ignore or
outright refuse to answer later on.
Interrogation is both an art and a science, with the proportion attributed
to each difficult to determine precisely. In many instances, a “principle” of
interrogation (i.e., a concept or method that has proven consistently applicable
in a variety of circumstances) may have an equally true obverse. The KUBARK
manual emphasizes the importance of conducting early “reconnaissance” of a
source: screening and initial interrogation sessions designed exclusively to assess
personality, to identify strengths, and to probe for weaknesses. Only after this has
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