Humane HUMINT: Wednesday, President Bush announced that the Department of Defense had released a new handbook that provides guidelines for interrogation that is designed to avoid the kinds of excesses and abuses perpetrated by military personnel, intelligence officers and contractors at Abu Ghraib Prison. The DoD even issued a press release about it (cue the martial music):

“The work which our interrogators do … saves lives, … U.S. lives, coalition lives and innocent civilian lives,” said Lt. Gen. John Kimmons, Army deputy chief of staff for intelligence. “And we’re immensely proud of the accomplishments of our interrogator workforce.”

Kimmons said the new Army Field Manual 2-22.3, “Human Intelligence Collector Operations,” provides specific guidelines for those directly involved in detention and interrogation efforts in straightforward language.

‘We’re immensely proud of the accomplishments of our interrogator workforce.’

It applies to everyone involved in detainee operations and interrogations, including battlefield interrogations at the point of capture, he said.

The field manual outlines 19 acceptable interrogation approaches, and includes examples of correct usage of these techniques. “It tries to leave as little to the imagination as possible without being overly prescriptive, and we think we’ve done a good job,” Kimmons said.

The manual also lists specific unauthorized behaviors and clarifies the difference between military intelligence and military police roles. Although these roles are complementary, military police don’t participate in interrogations and don’t set up conditions or “soften” detainees, Kimmons said.

The manual also very explicitly describes the chain of command and responsibility and makes it clear that every soldier is responsible for reporting abuses of the manual, even by higher-ups.

I was curious about the manual, so I downloaded the PDF and browsed around in it for a while. It’s a fascinating document, and I was surprised the DoD made it available to the public. You can download a copy here (link at bottom of page: FM 2-22.3.pdf), but be warned, it’s almost 400 pages long.

So I skipped to the interesting stuff. I wondered how, if they could no longer use dogs — and the manual is really, really explicit about the dog thing — or electrodes on testicles or women’s panties over the head or anything having to do with urine or feces, how they were going to extract the HUMINT, or “human intelligence” from “sources.” So I went to the section that describes the 19 “approaches” the “HUMINT collector” can use to extract the HUMINT from a source.

First, though, we should be clear about who can be interrogated:

Civilian Internee: A person detained or interned in the United States or in occupied territory for security reasons, or for protection, or because he or she has committed an offense against the detaining power, and who is entitled to “protected person” status under the Geneva Convention (GC).

Enemy Prisoner of War (EPW): A detained person, in particular, one who, while engaged in combat under orders of his or her government, is captured by the armed forces of the enemy. As such, he or she is entitled to the combatant’s privilege of immunity from the municipal law of the capturing state for warlike acts that do not amount to breaches of the law of armed conflict. For example, an EPW may be, but is not limited to, any person belonging to one of the following categories of personnel who have fallen into the power of the enemy: a member of the armed forces, organized militia or volunteer corps; a person who accompanies the armed forces, without actually being a member thereof; a member of a merchant marine or civilian aircraft crew not qualifying for more favorable treatment; or individuals who, on the approach of the enemy, spontaneously take up arms to resist invading forces.

Other Detainees: Persons in the custody of the U.S. Armed Forces who have not been classified as an EPW, retained personnel, or Civilian Internee shall be treated as EPWs until a legal status is ascertained by competent authority.

Retained Personnel: Official medical personnel of the armed forces exclusively engaged in the search for, or the collection, transport or treatment of wounded or sick, or in the prevention of disease, and staff exclusively engaged in the administration of medical units and facilities; chaplains attached to the armed forces; staff of National Red Cross Societies and that of other volunteer aid societies, provided that the staff of such societies are subject to military laws and regulations.

The rules apply to enemy combatants, of which there are two kinds:

Lawful Enemy Combatant: Lawful enemy combatants, who are entitled to protections under the Geneva Conventions, include members of the regular armed forces of a State Party to the conflict; militia, volunteer corps, and organized resistance movements belonging to a State Party to the conflict, which are under responsible command, wear a fixed distinctive sign
recognizable at a distance, carry their arms openly, and abide by the laws of war; and members of regular armed forces who profess allegiance to a government or an authority not recognized by the detaining power.
–
Unlawful Enemy Combatant: Unlawful enemy combatants are persons not entitled to combatant immunity, who engage in acts against the United States or its coalition partners in violation of the laws and customs of war during an armed conflict. For the purposes of the war on terrorism, the term “unlawful enemy combatant” is defined to include, but is not limited to, an individual who is or was part of or supporting Taliban or al Qaeda forces, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners.

Those are the guys who get shipped to Guantanamo or Bulgaria.

The manual is a step-by-step how-to book that is pretty easy to read, except for the omnipresent abbreviations and military jargon as well as a prose style that ranges from studiously vague to clinically specific. But most of all, it is very, very careful, with constant reminders of what is permissible and what’s verboten.

Once the HUMINT collector has established rapport with the source, he is free to use any of 18 of the approaches. However, number 19 — separation — gets a whole appendix to itself and must be cleared by higher-ups and spooks before being employed. Basically, it constitutes physical separation of the source from other sources and permits no contact with them. Used to be we called it “solitary confinement,” or, in the case of Cool Hand Luke, “the box.” These “approaches” will be familiar to anyone who has ever watched TV cop shows or secret agent movies.

Direct Approach: Almost all HUMINT collection begins with the direct approach. The exception to this is during elicitation operations that by their very nature are indirect. In using the direct approach, the HUMINT collector asks direct questions. The initial questions may be administrative or nonpertinent but the HUMINT collector quickly begins asking pertinent questions. The HUMINT collector will continue to use direct questions as long as the source is answering the questions in a truthful manner. When the source refuses to answer, avoids answering, or falsely answers a pertinent question, the HUMINT collector will begin an alternate approach strategy.

Incentive Approach: The incentive approach is trading something that the source wants for information. The thing that you give up may be a material reward, an emotional reward, or the removal of a real or perceived negative stimulus. The exchange of the incentive may be blatant or subtle. On one extreme, the exchange may be a formal cash payment for information during some contact operations while on the other extreme it may be as subtle as offering the source a cigarette. Even when the direct approach is successful, the HUMINT collector may use incentives to enhance rapport and to reward the source for cooperation and truthfulness.

Emotional Approach: Emotional approaches are centered on how the source views himself and his interrelationships with others. Through source observation and initial questioning, the HUMINT collector can often identify dominant emotions that motivate the EPW/detainee. The motivating emotion may be greed, love, hate, revenge, or others. The emotion may be directed inward (feelings of pride or helplessness) or outward (love of family).The HUMINT collector employs verbal and emotional ruses in applying pressure to the source’s dominant emotions. He then links the satisfaction of these emotions to the source’s cooperation. Often, the presentation of like experiences and presenting the source with an opportunity to express his
emotions is sufficient to result in cooperation. However, sometimes the source must be presented with a specific action or tangible manifestation of support. Although the emotion is the key factor, an emotional approach is normally worthless without an attached incentive.

Other emotional approaches include love, hate, religion, race, fear-up and fear-down, emotional-pride and ego-up or -down, and emotional futility.

Additional approaches include:

We Know All. In the “we know all” approach technique, the HUMINT collector subtly convinces the source that his questioning of the source is perfunctory because any information that the source has is already known.

File and Dossier. The file and dossier approach is a variation of the “we know all” approach. The HUMINT collector prepares a dossier containing all available information concerning the source or his organization. The information is carefully arranged within a file to give theillusion that it contains more data than actually there. The file may be padded with extra paper if necessary. Index tabs with titles such as education, employment, criminal record, military service, and others are
particularly effective. It is also effective if the HUMINT collector is reviewing the dossier when the source enters the room and the source is able to read his name on the dossier and sees the numerous topics and supposed extent of the files.

Establish Your Identity In using this approach, the HUMINT collector insists the detained source has been correctly identified as an infamous individual wanted by higher authorities on serious charges, and he is not the person he purports to be. In an effort to clear himself of this allegation, the source makes a genuine and detailed effort to establish or substantiate his true identity. In so doing, he may provide the HUMINT collector with information and leads for further development.

Repetition. The repetition approach is used to induce cooperation from a hostile source. In one variation of this approach, the HUMINT collector listens carefully to a source’s answer to a question, and then repeats the question and answer several times. He does this with each succeeding question until the source becomes so thoroughly bored with the procedure, he answers questions fully and candidly to satisfy the HUMINTcollector and gain relief from the monotony of this method.

Rapid Fire. The rapid-fire approach is based upon the principles that everyone likes to be heard when he speaks, and it is confusing to be interrupted in mid-sentence with an unrelated question. This approach may be used by one, two, or more HUMINT collectors to question the source. In employing this technique, the HUMINT collectors ask a series of questions in such a manner that the source does not have time to answer a question completely before the next one is asked. This confuses the source, and he will tend to contradict himself as he has little time to formulate his answers. The HUMINT collectors then confront the source with the inconsistencies causing further contradictions. In many instances, the source will begin to talk freely in an attempt to explain himself and deny the HUMINT collector’s claims of inconsistencies. In this attempt, the source is likely to reveal more than he intends, thus creating additional leads for further exploitation. This approach may be orchestrated with the emotional-
pride and ego-down or fear-up approaches. Besides extensive preparation, this approach requires experienced and competent HUMINT collectors, with comprehensive case knowledge and fluency in the source’s language.

Silent. The silent approach may be successful when used against either a nervous or confident source. When employing this technique, the HUMINT collector says nothing to the source, but looks him squarely in the eye, preferably with a slight smile on his face. It is important not to look away from the source but force him to break eye contact first. The source may become nervous, begin to shift in his chair, cross and re-cross his legs, and look away. He may ask questions, but the HUMINT collector should not answer until he is ready to break the silence. The source may blurt out questions such as, “Come on now, what do you want with me?” When the HUMINT collector is ready to break silence, he may do so with questions such as, “You planned this operation for a long time, didn’t you? Was it your idea?” The HUMINT collector must be patient when using this technique. It
may appear the technique is not succeeding, but usually will when given a reasonable chance.

Then there’s the old Good Cop/Bad Cop routine, although the Army has a more prosaic name for it:

Mutt and Jeff. The goal of this technique is to make the source identify with one of the interrogators and thereby establish rapport and cooperation. This technique involves a psychological ploy that takes advantage of the natural uncertainty and guilt that a source has as a result of being detained and questioned. Use of this technique requires two experienced HUMINT collectors who are convincing actors. The two HUMINT collectors will display opposing personalities and attitudes toward the source. For example, the first HUMINT collector is very formal and displays an unsympathetic attitude toward the source. He may, for instance, be very strict and order the source to follow all military courtesies during questioning. Although he conveys an unfeeling attitude, the HUMINT collector is careful not to threaten or coerce the source. Conveying a threat of violence is a violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

At the point when the interrogator senses the source is vulnerable, the second HUMINT collector appears (having received his cue by a signal, hidden from the source, or by listening and observing out of view of the source), and scolds the first HUMINT collector for his uncaring behavior and orders him from the room. The second HUMINT collector then apologizes to soothe the source, perhaps offering him a beverage and a cigarette. He explains that the actions of the first HUMINT collector were largely the
result of an inferior intellect and lack of sensitivity. The inference is that the second HUMINT collector and the source share a high degree of intelligence and sensitivity.

The source is normally inclined to have a feeling of gratitude towards the second HUMINT collector, who continues to show sympathy in an effort to increase rapport and control for the questioning that will follow. If the source’s cooperation begins to fade, the second HUMINT collector can hint that he is a busy person of high rank, and therefore cannot afford to waste time on an uncooperative source. He can broadly imply that the first HUMINT collector might return to continue the questioning. The Mutt and Jeff approach may be effective when orchestrated with Pride and Ego Up and Down, Fear Up and Down, Futility, or Emotional Love or Hate.

False Flag. The goal of this technique is to convince the detainee that individuals from a country other than the United States are interrogating him, and trick the detainee into cooperating with U.S. forces. For example, using an interrogator who speaks with a particular accent, making the detainee believe that he is actually talking to representatives from a different country, such as a country that is friendly to the detainee’s country or organization. The False Flag approach may be effectively orchestrated with the Fear Down approach and the Pride and Ego Up.

As you can see, the manual is pretty comprehensive, and includes the pertinent articles of the Geneva Convention as well as instructions that cover everything from appropriate interrogation attire to firearms to what to do if a prisoner dies and what to do with third-party aliens apprehended on the battlefield (remember John Walker Lindh?).

The big question that remains is whether the handbook will prevent abuses and excesses like those at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and the ones we don’t know about.