Mitchell Jessen and Associates
Mitchell Jessen and Associates is a consulting company founded in 2005, by psychologists James Mitchell and John "Bruce" Jessen with offices in Spokane and Virginia.[1]
CIA assessment on efficacy of Enhanced Interrogation Techniques
On request by the National Security Advisor Susan Rice in 2015, the CIA compiled a summary of key intelligence collected after the application of (unspecified) interrogation techniques. In detail the memorandum lists intelligence related to the following topics: The Karachi Plot, The Heathrow Plot, The "Second Wave," The Guraba Cell, Issa al-Hindi, Abu Talha al-Pakistani, Hambali's Capture, Jafaar al-Tayyar, Dirty Bomb Plot, Shoe bomber, and Sh(a)kai (Pakistan). The CIA concludes that the enhanced interrogation techniques were instrumental in preventing Islamic terrorists from launching a spectacular attack against western targets after 9/11.[2]
Senate Intelligence Committee Study of the CIA's Detention and Interrogation Program
On December 9, 2014 the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released a report confirming the use of torture and SERE tactics in interrogations.[3] The contractors that developed the "enhanced interrogation techniques" received US$81 million for their services, out of an original contract worth more than US$180 million. NBC News identified the contractors, who were referred to in the report via pseudonyms, as Mitchell, Jessen & Associates from Spokane, Washington, which was run by two psychologists, John "Bruce" Jessen and James Mitchell. The report states that the contractor "developed the list of enhanced interrogation techniques and personally conducted interrogations of some of the CIA's most significant detainees using those techniques. The contractors also evaluated whether the detainees' psychological state allowed for continued use of the techniques, even for some detainees they themselves were interrogating or had interrogated." Mitchell, Jessen & Associates developed a "menu" of 20 "enhanced" interrogation techniques including waterboarding, sleep deprivation and stress positions. The CIA acting general counsel, described in his book Company Man, that the enhanced interrogation techniques were "sadistic and terrifying."[4]
References
- ↑ The Story of Mitchell Jessen & Associates: How a Team of Psychologists in Spokane, WA, Helped Develop the CIA’s Torture Techniques, DemocracyNow, April 21, 2009
- ↑ "Effectiveness of the CIA counterterrorist interrogation techniques". CIA. 13 June 2016.
- ↑ United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. "The Senate Committee’s Report on the C.I.A.’s Use of Torture" December 9, 2014.
- ↑ Windrem, Robert. "CIA Paid Torture Teachers More Than $80 Million". Archived from the original on 9 December 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2014.