Berkeley Law - Expert Voices

Expert Voices

Audio interviews of expert psychologists offer insights into the development, propriety, and effects of “enhanced interrogation techniques”; the impact of their use on the profession; and proposals for reform. Please click on the topics below to listen to the expert voices.

History of "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques"
1. Frank Summers - Feb. 25, 2010: The history of the research on enhanced interrogation techniques
Enhanced Interrogation Techniques and Their Effects - Part I: Psychological Descriptions
1. Frank Summers - Feb. 25, 2010: The first thing that tends to break down in mental torture is thought organization
2. Judy Okawa - March 3, 2010: Sensory deprivation, a profoundly disorienting experience for the human brain
3. Judy Okawa - March 3, 2010: Sensory overload, an extremely powerful way of breaking up the mind
4. Judy Okawa - March 3, 2010: Stripping the person of any human dignity
5. Judy Okawa - March 3, 2010: The interrogator's intent is to break the person
6. Michael Wessells - Feb. 26, 2010: Effects are profound, there is absolutely no question you think you’re going to die
7. Michael Wessells - Feb. 26, 2010: You would begin to see suicidal thinking, patterns of severe disorientation
8. Nina Thomas - March 9, 2010: What I recognize is the extreme anxiety, the inability to make eye contact, the terrible fear
9. Uwe Jacobs - March 23, 2010: The signs and symptoms of non-physical torture
Enhanced Interrogation Techniques and Their Effects - Part II: When Interrogation Becomes Torture
1. Brad Olson - March 1st, 2010: It so quickly turns into coercion and torture
2. David Gangsei - March 1, 2010: These techniques are torture
3. Frank Summers - Feb. 25, 2010: An intentional effort to inflict harm on people
4. Uwe Jacobs - March 23, 2010: Psychologists helped the government torture people in a manner that created deniability
What Should Be the Role of Psychologists in Interrogation?
1. Brad Olson - March 1st, 2010: Psychologists should not be in global war on terror detention centers
2. Brad Olson - March 1st, 2010: Psychologists do prescribe to do no harm whenever they stray away from that absolute I think it’s very dangerous
3. Frank Summers - Feb. 25, 2010: They used their PhDs as a way of legitimizing illegitimate techniques
4. Michael Wessells - Feb. 26, 2010: None. Absolutely none. Under no circumstances.
5. Nina Thomas - March 9, 2010: Conducting interrogations is not the role of a mental health professional
6. Rosa E. Garcia-Peltolemi - March 2, 2010: Psychologists should not be interrogators, there is no history that shows psychologists have something to offer
7. Ruth Fallenbaum - March 25, 2010: We came down on the side of removing all psychologists from any sites that violate the Geneva Conventions
8. Trudy Bond - March 1, 2010: Yoo and Bybee used the presence of psychologists to suggest everything was okay
9. Uwe Jacobs - March 23, 2010: What's problematical is psychologists advising interrogators on how to maximize distress
Should Psychologists Be Held Accountable for Involvement in Enhanced Interrogation Techniques?
1. Brad Olson - March 1st, 2010: Any psychologist worth her salt would have recognized that any of these coercive techniques would lead to harm…
2. Brad Olson - March 1st, 2010: The psychologists had a responsibility at the earliest point to step up and be true whistleblowers
3. Frank Summers - Feb. 25, 2010: Psychologists involved should not have the ability to practice
4. Nina Thomas - March 9, 2010: There should be criminal charges
5. Rosa E. Garcia-Peltolemi - March 2, 2010: Their obligation at the very least was to research them!
6. Ruth Fallenbaum - March 25, 2010: They should have their licenses revoked they should not be allowed to practice
7. Trudy Bond - March 1, 2010: Reform would be for licensing boards and professional associations to start holding psychologists accountable
8. Uwe Jacobs - March 23, 2010: Licensing board complaints would be appropriate
What should be the Role of the APA?
1. Frank Summers - Feb. 25, 2010: Narrative Part 1 - The APA was only interested in covering up
2. Frank Summers - Feb. 25, 2010: Narrative Part 2 - Detainee 063, Maj L, and the Referendum
3. Judy Okawa - March 3, 2010: The APA's response has been shameful
4. Ruth Fallenbaum - March 25, 2010: I don’t think we’re ever going to get an ethical APA until there is an independent APA
5. Uwe Jacobs - March 23, 2010: PENS Task Force and APA response
6. Uwe Jacobs - March 23, 2010: The APA is not capable of investigating itself
Impact on the Profession of Psychologists’ Involvement in Interrogations
1. Jean Maria Arrigo - Feb. 22, 2010: The role of public trust
2. Ruth Fallenbaum - March 25, 2010: This whole thing casts a cloud over my profession

Expert Voices

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