Global Security, Privacy, & Risk Management

UPDATE; Enhanced Interrogation – and new CIA Director Gina Haspel March 14, 2018

With the newly announced nomination of Gina Haspel as the country’s first female CIA director, there are some questions about her role in overseeing the ‘black sites’ where enhanced interrogation was applied to terrorists.  There are also pundits from all sides (including Senator John McCain) coming out with strong words against Ms. Haspel.  I would recommend that anyone with an interest in this country and this situation read the book Enhanced Interrogation by the man who actually designed, delivered and managed enhanced interrogation.  It changed my view.

Like most Americans I was horrified at the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks that killed over 3,000 people.  In the aftermath of the attacks, the US Government embarked on a mission to kill or capture terrorist leaders and stop another attack.  One of the most controversial measures approved to gain information was called ‘Enhanced Interrogation’ and included, specifically, waterboarding, sleep deprivation, and physical coercion.  When  knowledge of this program broke, it caused an uproar in the US.  In fact, the US Senate Intelligence Committee put out a report that called the process torture.

With the publication of Dr. James Mitchell’s (PhD) book Enhanced Interrogation, the reader finally gets a first hand look at the who, what, where, why, and when of the EI program.  Before I purchased and read the book, I had some very pointed views on the idea of EI and waterboarding.  Reading the book caused me to really think about what I knew about the program and people involved.  The writing was great and the story was really insightful.  I think Dr. Mitchell did a great job on this book and telling a very difficult story.   Here is a great interview with Dr. Mitchell.   If you have any interest in this subject, you need to pick up this book!