Educing Information: Interrogation - National Intelligence University

studies have tested the specific FBI approach. This lack of data may be a result of
the FBI’s not yet adopting a policy requiring that all interrogations be videotaped.
FBI instructors noted that such recordings would serve an invaluable training
and evaluative function, allowing them to learn from their mistakes as well as to
monitor what agents actually do in the field.
Section 7. Federal Law Enforcement Training Center
(FLETC) 581
The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) provides training to
agents in 81 different federal agencies. It covers all federal criminal investigators
(18–11 job series federal employees) except those in the FBI, Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA), and U.S. Postal Service. It is designed to provide individuals
who have no law enforcement experience with the tools necessary to become
beginning criminal investigators; the specific skill-sets needed for a particular
agency are then taught by that agency. It has a basic curriculum applicable to
all agents and then offers more advanced or specialized training as requested,
either through “add-on” programs for the specific agencies or through private
contractors. The FLETC basic curriculum must be approved by all agencies and is
reviewed regularly on the basis of feedback from the students and the agencies.
FLETC’s primary training in the area of custodial interrogations comes
in the basic Criminal Investigator Training Program (CITP). The heart of the
CITP’s interview/interrogation curriculum is a 10-hour lecture class titled
“Interviewing for Law Enforcement Officers/Criminal Investigators.” CITP also
offers the course in 6- and 12-hour versions covering more or less the same
aspects of interview procedures. The individual agencies choose the program
most appropriate for their agents, and the 10-hour version is most commonly
selected. The course is designed to “provide Federal criminal investigators
(regardless of agency or position description) with foundational interviewing
skills using proven questioning techniques coupled with an awareness of common
behavioral responses. Emphasis is placed on planning the interview, formulating
questions and following the five steps of the law enforcement interview.” 582 Of
the 15 objectives of the course, two focus on interrogation: #14: Identify and
apply planning considerations for a confrontational interview, and #15: Identify
and apply the confrontational interview technique. These objectives are covered
through a two-hour lecture class. Although FLETC uses the term “interview,”
the confrontational interview basically amounts to an interrogation, since it is
designed to elicit a confession from a party whom the agents believe to be guilty.
The confrontational interview may or may not be conducted with the suspect in
custody, depending on the agents’ preferences for the particular situation. 583
581
Unless otherwise referenced, the information in this section is derived from a visit to the Federal
Law Enforcement Training Center at Glynco, Georgia, 12-13 April 2005. Our host during the visit was
Mark Fallon, Deputy Assistant Director of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
582
Syllabus, Interviewing for Law Enforcement Officers/Criminal Investigators, FLETC Course
#4162, August. 2004.
583
The confrontational interview will hereinafter be referred to as an interrogation for simplicity
and to distinguish it from other interviews.
209