Effectively Interrogating Terrorism Suspects: Lessons From the Field

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Three interrogators with significant operational experience discussed opportunities the United States has to improve its ability to collect intelligence from high value detainees and other human sources.  They considered the following:

What approaches would the interrogators adopt in questioning a senior level Al-Qaeda operative?

What can Congress and/or the President do to help U.S. interrogators be successful; is there such a thing as a ticking time bomb scenario?

Do the humane and legal “approaches” detailed in the Army Field Manual provide an interrogator with the tools necessary to effectively interrogate a die-hard Al Qaeda suspect?

Presenters

Colonel Stuart A. Herrington, U.S. Army (Retired)
Stu Herrington served 37 years as an Army intelligence officer, specializing in human intelligence and counterintelligence.  He has extensive interrogation experience from service in Vietnam, Panama, and Operation Desert Storm. He has traveled to Guantanamo and Iraq at the behest of the Army to evaluate detainee exploitation operations.

Joe Navarro
Joe Navarro served for more than 25 years with the FBI as an interrogator, an agent, and a supervisor working in the area of counterterrorism and counterintelligence.

Ken Robinson
Ken Robinson served a 20 year career in a variety of tactical, operational, and strategic assignments including Ranger, Special Forces, and clandestine special operations units.  His experience includes service with the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the Central Intelligence Agency.

Moderated by Greg Miller, LA Times staff writer and author of The Interrogators: Inside the Secret War against Al Qaeda.