Educing Information: Interrogation - National Intelligence University

should also be attentive to signs of receptivity from the suspect. FBI training
emphasizes nonverbal signs such as a drooping head, tears, and the body leaning
forward. When these signs are perceived, interrogators are instructed to reduce
their themes to a succinct concept and proceed to the next step.
The last step in the FBI’s Direct Accusation Approach is the presentation
of a bad/good option. This step of the FBI’s method is identical to Reid’s Step
7, “Presenting an Alternative Question.” By offering the suspect two reasons for
committing the crime, one of which would be unacceptable to the suspect, the
interrogator gives the suspect an opportunity to make an admission. Interrogators
are instructed to suggest that the suspect’s actions were based on the “good” option
rather than the bad, to ask the suspect to confirm this suggestion, and, if it is
confirmed, to begin eliciting the confession. On the other hand, if the suspect fails
to take up the good/bad option, interrogators should spend more time rationalizing,
projecting and minimizing, and offering the suspect reasons to confess. Thus, it
is clear that the interrogation process cannot depend solely on a strict list of steps,
but must be flexible enough to adapt to the particular interrogatory situation at
hand. It is equally clear that the FBI method of interrogation is extremely time
intensive, and requires prolonged interactions between suspect and interrogator to
work properly. Consequently, the Direct Accusation Approach might be ill-suited
for time-constrained situations, such as a “ticking bomb” scenario.
With regard to detecting deception, future FBI agents are not taught to look
for any specific physical or verbal signs of deception, since these can often
be inaccurate and misleading. Instead, trainees are taught to consider clusters
of behavior and note the context in which these behaviors arise. Additionally,
students are urged to compare these behaviors with the baseline behavior shown
by the subject in the non-accusatory pre-interrogation interview. Detection of
deception is thus taught not as a determinative tool but as a means of helping the
interview along and providing interrogators with clues to topics and themes that,
if probed more deeply, might bring suspects closer to a confession.
According to the FBI Academy, rapport is the key element in motivating
people to talk, be it during a non-accusatory pre-interrogation interview or
an interrogation. As such, it is central to the Direct Accusation Approach that
an interrogator be able not only to establish rapport with a suspect but also to
maintain it throughout the interrogation. However, FBI instructors made clear that
establishing and maintaining rapport is the most difficult skill to teach and learn
through a standard training program. Building rapport takes time and dedication,
prompting at least one instructor to recommend that his students attempt to engage
with as many unknown people as possible during their free time. Additionally,
FBI instructors suggested that many of the interpersonal skills necessary to
build and maintain rapport might be innate, and thus highly dependent on the
individual abilities of students. To paraphrase one instructor, rapport is a complex
and constant dance between interrogator and suspect. This dance proceeds from
information obtained through the pre-interrogation interview, common life
experience, and general, sometimes intuitive, knowledge of human behavior and
nature. It is common for agents to mistake rapport for facile chit-chat, which
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