Man
Professional
- Messages
- 3,093
- Reaction score
- 634
- Points
- 113
This instruction was successfully used by the CIA for 34 years. Most of the advice remains relevant. We hope you will never need this knowledge. But it is still worth being aware.
1. The environment
"The interrogation room should be devoid of any distractions. No pictures. Walls, floors and carpets - only muted colors," advises the anonymous author. The most ordinary table is preferable. On the other hand, if the chair and table of the interrogator are massive and expensive, this will impress upon the interrogated person that he is dealing with an important and influential person.
2. A chair for the interrogated
You can get by with the simplest wooden chair. However, if the person was brought from a cell devoid of any amenities, or was previously forced to stand on his feet for a long time, sitting on a soft, comfortable chair due to the contrast of previous sensations will increase the disorientation of the interrogated person.
3. A sign "Do not disturb!"
Make sure that no one bursts into your office during the interrogation shouting, “We’re ordering pizza! What do you want?” “The sudden appearance of someone outside, who has come for a trivial, everyday reason, can have catastrophic consequences for the interrogation and will completely negate its intimidating effect,” the author of the manual notes.
4. An unpredictable schedule
“Your ward should begin to feel that you control his entire daily routine,” the author writes. Therefore, interrogations should be conducted according to a chaotic schedule. Today, two interrogations, tomorrow none, and the day after tomorrow none. And on the third day, you should call in for interrogation right during lunch or in the middle of the night. One interrogation can last five minutes, and the other three hours.
5. The “All-Seeing Eye” Method
The interrogator explains that he already knows everything, he just wants to make sure that the person being interrogated is completely honest with him. Therefore, to begin with, questions are asked, the answers to which are already known. ("You have two arms, two legs and one nose, don't you?") If the answer is a lie ("The other leg is not mine, it was planted on me!"), the interrogator strictly points out the unreliability of the information. All this should ultimately convince the subject of the interrogation that denial is pointless.
6. The "Double Planting" Method
"Planting your own man into the cell is too banal, and therefore completely ineffective a means," the instructions assure. But sending two plants to the prisoner at once is a completely different matter. Plant #1 tries to make friends with the person being interrogated, plant #2 proudly maintains silence. When the first plant is taken out of the cell for a while, the second warns the person being interrogated that he was a snitch. In this way, the person being interrogated develops trust in the second informant. "This trust can be reinforced if the second plant shows the subject the place where the listening device is allegedly hidden in the cell."
7. The Good Cop/Bad Cop Method
"There is nothing new in this procedure," says the author of the manual, but notes that this method works best "with women, teenagers and timid men."
8. Bilingual approach
If the subject of interrogation knows more than one language, it is advisable to start asking questions first in his second, non-native language. "If the person being interrogated has withstood a barrage of questions, for example, in German or Korean, you should suddenly switch to his native language and ask in Russian: "Who is your operational residency officer?" In some cases, the person being interrogated can answer faster than he realizes that he should not have done so," the author of the instructions writes.
9. The "I really know!" method
At first, the person being interrogated is asked questions that he definitely cannot know the answers to, since he is not at the level of his organization where access to such information is possible. The person being interrogated assures that he does not know anything, and this is true. However, the interrogator "doesn't believe it", claiming that even the smallest fry should know such basic things. After such preparation, the person being interrogated is asked questions concerning information within his competence. Many blurt things out.
The manual quotes a person who was subjected to this interrogation method: "This will sound strange, but then I was really grateful when, after all these difficult questions, a topic was finally touched upon that I knew at least something about."
10. The "Placebo" Method
The subject is given a harmless vitamin, and then told that it was a truth serum. If the person was consciously or even subconsciously going to tell something, this trick works and everything blurts out.
11. Change of clothes
Clothes help a person to be who he is. The manual advises to deprive the person being interrogated of his native clothes as quickly as possible and give him any other ones. Preferably not the right size. The belt should also be taken away so that he has to hold his pants up with his hands.
12. Threats
“Promises to use torture and violence are usually more effective in breaking resistance than direct force,” the manual says. Many people, the author goes on to explain, do not suspect that they are capable of withstanding intense pain, and are more afraid of it than they should be.
But threatening with death should not be done. This will only convince the person being interrogated that his fate has already been decided and that he will be disposed of as soon as they have all the necessary information.
This instruction is an excerpt from a 128-page document that became public knowledge, having surfaced back in 1997. Of course, a lot has changed since then. For example, today the CIA agents probably first deprive the person being interrogated of access to Facebook for 30 minutes, and the unfortunate person cracks already in the 31st minute...
1. The environment
"The interrogation room should be devoid of any distractions. No pictures. Walls, floors and carpets - only muted colors," advises the anonymous author. The most ordinary table is preferable. On the other hand, if the chair and table of the interrogator are massive and expensive, this will impress upon the interrogated person that he is dealing with an important and influential person.
2. A chair for the interrogated
You can get by with the simplest wooden chair. However, if the person was brought from a cell devoid of any amenities, or was previously forced to stand on his feet for a long time, sitting on a soft, comfortable chair due to the contrast of previous sensations will increase the disorientation of the interrogated person.
3. A sign "Do not disturb!"
Make sure that no one bursts into your office during the interrogation shouting, “We’re ordering pizza! What do you want?” “The sudden appearance of someone outside, who has come for a trivial, everyday reason, can have catastrophic consequences for the interrogation and will completely negate its intimidating effect,” the author of the manual notes.
4. An unpredictable schedule
“Your ward should begin to feel that you control his entire daily routine,” the author writes. Therefore, interrogations should be conducted according to a chaotic schedule. Today, two interrogations, tomorrow none, and the day after tomorrow none. And on the third day, you should call in for interrogation right during lunch or in the middle of the night. One interrogation can last five minutes, and the other three hours.
5. The “All-Seeing Eye” Method
The interrogator explains that he already knows everything, he just wants to make sure that the person being interrogated is completely honest with him. Therefore, to begin with, questions are asked, the answers to which are already known. ("You have two arms, two legs and one nose, don't you?") If the answer is a lie ("The other leg is not mine, it was planted on me!"), the interrogator strictly points out the unreliability of the information. All this should ultimately convince the subject of the interrogation that denial is pointless.
6. The "Double Planting" Method
"Planting your own man into the cell is too banal, and therefore completely ineffective a means," the instructions assure. But sending two plants to the prisoner at once is a completely different matter. Plant #1 tries to make friends with the person being interrogated, plant #2 proudly maintains silence. When the first plant is taken out of the cell for a while, the second warns the person being interrogated that he was a snitch. In this way, the person being interrogated develops trust in the second informant. "This trust can be reinforced if the second plant shows the subject the place where the listening device is allegedly hidden in the cell."
7. The Good Cop/Bad Cop Method
"There is nothing new in this procedure," says the author of the manual, but notes that this method works best "with women, teenagers and timid men."
8. Bilingual approach
If the subject of interrogation knows more than one language, it is advisable to start asking questions first in his second, non-native language. "If the person being interrogated has withstood a barrage of questions, for example, in German or Korean, you should suddenly switch to his native language and ask in Russian: "Who is your operational residency officer?" In some cases, the person being interrogated can answer faster than he realizes that he should not have done so," the author of the instructions writes.
9. The "I really know!" method
At first, the person being interrogated is asked questions that he definitely cannot know the answers to, since he is not at the level of his organization where access to such information is possible. The person being interrogated assures that he does not know anything, and this is true. However, the interrogator "doesn't believe it", claiming that even the smallest fry should know such basic things. After such preparation, the person being interrogated is asked questions concerning information within his competence. Many blurt things out.
The manual quotes a person who was subjected to this interrogation method: "This will sound strange, but then I was really grateful when, after all these difficult questions, a topic was finally touched upon that I knew at least something about."
10. The "Placebo" Method
The subject is given a harmless vitamin, and then told that it was a truth serum. If the person was consciously or even subconsciously going to tell something, this trick works and everything blurts out.
11. Change of clothes
Clothes help a person to be who he is. The manual advises to deprive the person being interrogated of his native clothes as quickly as possible and give him any other ones. Preferably not the right size. The belt should also be taken away so that he has to hold his pants up with his hands.
12. Threats
“Promises to use torture and violence are usually more effective in breaking resistance than direct force,” the manual says. Many people, the author goes on to explain, do not suspect that they are capable of withstanding intense pain, and are more afraid of it than they should be.
But threatening with death should not be done. This will only convince the person being interrogated that his fate has already been decided and that he will be disposed of as soon as they have all the necessary information.
This instruction is an excerpt from a 128-page document that became public knowledge, having surfaced back in 1997. Of course, a lot has changed since then. For example, today the CIA agents probably first deprive the person being interrogated of access to Facebook for 30 minutes, and the unfortunate person cracks already in the 31st minute...
