Educing Information: Interrogation - National Intelligence University

himself, and then projects the contents of his own unconscious
outwards…. 103
The stated objective of using isolation in the context of an interrogation is not
to inflict punishment, but to leverage the source into compliance, a state in which
the source is willing to answer pertinent questions on areas within the scope of
the source’s knowledgeability and direct access. Given the following description
of interrogation, drawn from U.S. Army Field Manual 34-52, Intelligence
Interrogation, obtaining source compliance would appear to be a critical step in
the overall process.
Interrogation is the process of questioning a source to obtain the
maximum amount of usable information. The goal of any interrogation is
to obtain reliable information in a lawful manner, in a minimum of time,
and to satisfy intelligence requirements of any echelon of command. 104
(Emphasis added)
Since holding detainees under specific conditions of isolation for a sufficient
period of time appears to produce compliance — the willingness to respond to
questioning — and since compliance is a key step in the interrogation process,
logic would therefore suggest that isolation would be an effective interrogation
technique. The problem arises when one introduces an additional, indispensable
element to the concept of compliance. Given that the objective of an interrogation,
as set forth in FM 34-52, is to obtain usable and reliable information (and in a
lawful manner), compliance means not just the willingness to answer questions,
but also the ability.
Hinkle, whose medical studies serve as a major reference cited in the KUBARK
manual, raises fundamental questions about the ability of a source subjected to
extended isolation to provide meaningful, coherent answers in response to an
interrogator’s questions. He observed that “Any attempt to produce compliant
behavior by procedures which produce…disturbances of homeostasis, fatigue,
sleep deprivation, isolation, discomfort, or disturbing emotional states carries with
it the hazard of producing inaccuracy and unreliability.” 105 (Emphasis added.)
Much of the Cold War-era research on Communist methods of interrogation
sanctioned by the U.S. Government was conducted to obtain a better understanding
of, and therefore an enhanced ability to withstand, coercive interrogation methods.
Therefore, emphasis on the subject’s vulnerability to compliance-inducing
techniques overshadowed the concept of the source’s ability to report information
103
KUBARK, 88.
104
Department of the Army, U.S. Army Intelligence And Interrogation Handbook (Guilford, CT:
The Lyons Press, 2005), 8.
105
Lawrence E. Hinkle, Jr., “The Physiological State of the Interrogation Subject as it Affects
Brain Function,” in The Manipulation of Human Behavior, 43.
137