Educing Information: Interrogation - National Intelligence University

want to try to get as much as I can in just one brief encounter, or is there short- or
long-term value in building some degree of credibility for future, operationally
useful interactions with the other person)
In most negotiations, as in most human interactions, it is important to have
the ability to move back and forth from collaborative phases to competitive phases
and vice versa. The circumstances in which one might rationally pursue a purely
competitive strategy would be:
• One knows one will never see the other person, or anyone from his “tribe,”
again, and
• One believes that it is actually possible to meet one’s own interests, using
only competitive tactics, in one interaction or time period, and
• There is nothing else that might later be gained in future interactions with
the person or his “tribe.”
These circumstances are rare. In real life one usually sees the other person
again, or one sees his fellow countrymen. It is rare to have no long-term interests
and to obtain all of what one wants in one interaction. Pure (win-lose) competition
on its own is usually not “rational”; one needs to be able to combine and move
among strategies.
We can look at the task of EI through this lens. The purpose of EI is for
one party — the United States — to gain accurate and useful information from
the other party — the source. If the source does not want to give part or all of
this information (a point that the interrogator cannot know before the negotiation
begins) then this EI appears to be a competitive situation. It might, however,
be possible to begin with some compromise elements, for example by asking
first about matters that are relatively easy for the source to discuss. Moreover,
the source might be willing to give information that does not threaten his own
interests — an accommodative possibility on his part that should be explored
early and throughout the process of EI. And we have just begun the analysis.
May there be something to trade, such as creature comforts, the circumstances
of the EI, “respectful listening,” or plans for release Are there large or small
collaborative possibilities involving the source’s family, friends, or future plans
Can the United States possibly recruit this source for the future
We will not know unless we begin to learn the relevant interests of the parties
— a task which is required for all strategies. Some information about the interests
of the source may be available from a central database. Learning the interests of
a source on the spot is most likely to happen through a process that negotiation
theory calls “building trust” or “relationship.” In the context of EI this might
mean building a “strategically useful connection,” credibility, and believability,
perhaps by members of the EI team as well as by the individual educer.
Negative Strategies
The practice of negotiation can also involve negative strategies, which
include the intention to injure the other person. U.S. interests in EI are to obtain
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