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CIA, KUBARK Counterintelligence Interrogation

CIA, KUBARK Counterintelligence Interrogation, July 1963
Part 1 (pp. 1-60) - Part II (pp. 61-112) - Part III (pp. 113-128)

This 127-page report, classified Secret, was drafted in July 1963 as a comprehensive guide for training interrogators in the art of obtaining intelligence from "resistant sources." KUBARK--a CIA codename for itself--describes the qualifications of a successful interrogator, and reviews the theory of non-coercive and coercive techniques for breaking a prisoner. Some recommendations are very specific. The report recommends, for example, that in choosing an interrogation site "the electric current should be known in advance, so that transformers and other modifying devices will be on hand if needed." Of specific relevance to the current scandal in Iraq is section nine, "The Coercive Counterintelligence Interrogation of Resistant Sources," (pp 82-104). Under the subheading, "Threats and Fears," the CIA authors note that "the threat of coercion usually weakens or destroys resistance more effectively than coercion itself. The threat to inflict pain, for example, can trigger fears more damaging than the immediate sensation of pain." Under the subheading "Pain," the guidelines discuss the theories behind various thresholds of pain, and recommend that a subject's "resistance is likelier to be sapped by pain which he seems to inflict upon himself" such rather than by direct torture. The report suggests forcing the detainee to stand at attention for long periods of time. A section on sensory deprivations suggests imprisoning detainees in rooms without sensory stimuli of any kind, "in a cell which has no light," for example. "An environment still more subject to control, such as water-tank or iron lung, is even more effective," the KUBARK manual concludes.

 

KUBARK COUNTERINTELLIGENCE
INTERROGATION


July 1963



TABLE OF CONTENTS


I. INTRODUCTION 1-3

A. Explanation of Purpose 1-2
B. Explanation of Organization 3

II . DEFINITIONS 4-5

III. LEGAL AND POLICY CONSIDERATIONS 6-9

IV. THE INTERROGATOR 10-14

V. THE INTERROGATEE 15-29

A. Types of Sources: Intelligence Categories 15-19
B. Types of Sources: Personality Categories 19-28
C. Other Clues 28-29

VI. SCREENING AND OTHER PRELIMINARIES 30-37

A. Screening 30-33
B. Other Preliminary Procedures 33-37
C. Summary 37

VII. PLANNING THE COUNTERINTELLIGENCE INTERROGATION 38-51

A. The Nature of Counterintelligence Interrogation 38-42
B. The Interrogation Plan 42-44
C. The Specifics 44-51

VIII. THE NON-COERCIVE COUNTERINTELLIGENCE INTERROGATION 52-81

A. General Remarks 52-53
B. The Structure of the Interrogation 53-65
1. The Opening 53-59
2. The Reconnaissance 59-60
3. The Detailed Questioning 60-64
4. The Conclusion 64-65
C. Techniques of Non-Coercive Interrogation of Resistant Sources 65-81

IX. THE COERCIVE COUNTERINTELLIGENCE
INTERROGATION OF RESISTANT SOURCES
82-104

A. Restrictions 82
B. The Theory of Coercion 82-85
C. Arrest 85-86
D. Detention 86-87
E. Deprivation of Sensory Stimuli 87-90
F. Threats and Fear 90-92
G. Debility 92-93
H. Pain 93-95
I. Heightened Suggestibility and Hypnosis 95-98
J. Narcosis 98-100
K. The Detection of Malingering 101-102
L. Conclusion 103-104

X. INTERROGATOR'S CHECK LIST 105-109

XI. DESCRIPTIVE BILIOGRAPHY 110-122