Educing Information: Interrogation - National Intelligence University

To capitalize on this systems approach to educing information, an interrogator
must establish a lucid and unambiguous intended outcome. Such an outcome will
serve as nothing less than a fundamental organizing principle around which all
planning and execution of educing strategies will revolve.
Anecdotal evidence strongly suggests that the problems encountered in the
course of interrogations conducted at Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib, and Bagram
Air Base have, at least in part, resulted from efforts to educe information from
resistant sources in the absence of an operationally relevant, clearly defined,
strategic outcome to effectively drive the process. Several factors have apparently
contributed to the systemic failure to establish such important guideposts: improper
planning, shortfalls in technical, operational, cultural or linguistic knowledge, or
even frustration resulting from the high-pressure demands of combat operations.
A well-designed intended outcome would enable the interrogator to craft a
thoughtful approach plan. In the context of interrogation, the intended outcome
performs two vital functions:
• It should provide the interrogator with sufficient focus to enable him to
make rational decisions when presented with unexpected challenges,
and
• It should ensure the approach plan and subsequent execution of that plan
will have — and maintain — internal consistency.
In an exhaustive study of the radical yet highly successful Blitzkrieg strategy
employed by the German Army during World War II, Colonel John Boyd, a U.S.
Air Force fighter pilot and strategist, identified the concept of Schwerpunkt as
one of the key enabling principles. Schwerpunkt can be described as a concept
that provides “focus and direction to the operation.” 665 The profound importance
of this principle is illustrated by its central role in the famed Toyota Production
System, cited by many as arguably the most efficient automotive manufacturing
system in the world. For Toyota, Schwerpunkt can be defined as “shortening the
time it takes to convert customer orders into vehicle deliveries.” With such a
precisely defined point of focus, every member of the production team — from
top manager to the worker on the assembly line — is armed with a clear and
unambiguous standard upon which to base his or her actions. 666
Focus — Schwerpunkt — for educing information would similarly drive
the development of interrogation approaches, their implementation, and, most
importantly, the decision-making of each interrogator working in an isolated,
high-pressure, sometimes chaotic operational environment. This focus would
empower the individual interrogator not only to glean intelligence information
from a knowledgeable source more effectively, but also to do so in a manner
consistent with legal, moral, and operational guidelines. In searching to identify
a Schwerpunkt for the U.S. approach to educing information, it might be difficult
665
Chet Richards, Certain to Win (Philadelphia, PA: Xlibris Publishing, 2004), 51.
666
Richards, Certain to Win, 124.
253