Interrogation practices in the United States have been roundly criticized both for their accusatorial ethos, at times leading to false confessions by the innocent, and for a history of applying physical and psychological coercion in law enforcement, military, and intelligence contexts. Despite decades of psychological research demonstrating the failures of such approaches and despite recent positive advances in countries such as the United Kingdom moving to an information-gathering framework, little change has occurred in the training or practice of U.S. interrogation professionals over the past 50 years. This paper describes recent historical events that have led to the development of the first unclassified, government-funded research program on the science of interviewing and interrogation. Since 2010, the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group (HIG) Research Program has identified effective approaches for developing cooperation and rapport, eliciting information, challenging inconsistencies by presenting evidence or information strategically, and assessing credibility using cognitive cues and strategic questioning tactics. The program has also examined the influence of culture and language, and has facilitated the translation of research from the laboratory to the field. In this context, we review the significant contributions of psychologists to understanding and developing ethical, legal, and effective interrogation practices, and we describe important future directions for research on investigative interviewing and interrogation. DEVELOPING AN EVIDENCE-BASED PERSPECTIVE 3 Developing an Evidence-Based Perspective on Interrogation: A Review of the U.S. Government's High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group Research Program The interrogation practices adopted by law enforcement, military, and intelligence professionals in the United States have been criticized both for their accusatorial ethos leading to false confessions and wrongful conviction of the innocent (Kassin et al., 2010; Lassiter & Meissner, 2010), as well as a dark history of applying torture in the interrogation booth (Costanzo & Redlich, 2010; Vrij et al., in press). Despite decades of research demonstrating the problems with such approaches and despite recent advances in countries such as the United Kingdom moving toward an information-gathering framework (Bull & Milne, 2004), little change has occurred in the training or practice of U.S. interrogation professionals over the past 50 years. This paper describes recent historical events that have led to the development of the first unclassified, government-funded research program on the science of interviewing and interrogation, and details its significant contributions to understanding and developing best practices. Notably, the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group (HIG) research program has been shaped, almost exclusively, by an international cadre of research psychologists conducting studies in the laboratory, in training academies, and in the field. As detailed below, the HIG research progr...

Motivational interviewing (MI) is an evidence-based intervention that has proved effective across diverse clinical contexts with clients ambivalent about and resistant to behavioral change. This article argues that the principles of MI can be successfully applied to law enforcement (LE) interviews with high-value detainees (HVDs; i.e., terrorist suspects). Although the forms of ambivalence and resistance may differ from those in clinical contexts, HVDs must make the decision whether to talk or not when they are interviewed. We argue there is likely ambivalence regarding this. We theorized that 4 MI-consistent (MI) skills may be useful for LE interviewers: reflective listening, summaries, rolling with resistance, and developing discrepancies. Using the Observing Rapport Based Interpersonal Techniques coding manual (Alison, Alison, Elntib, & Noone, 2012), we analyzed 804 tapes of LE interviews with 75 terrorism suspects in the United Kingdom. Multilevel structural equation modeling revealed that MI skills encouraged detainee engagement and subsequent information gain. It also revealed that any approach antithetical to MI had a profoundly negative impact on detainee engagement and subsequent information gain—potentially through creating reactance (a form of resistance based on motivations to regain a freedom when it is threatened). Overall, this research provides unique evidence for the use of specific skills and approaches that can increase or decrease HVD engagement and information provided.

ORBIT is an evidence-based approach to the analysis and training for interviewing high-value detainees by law enforcement, security services, and the military. Although its origins go as far back as 2005, it gained considerable traction after 2012, when the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group, formed by the Obama Administration in the United States, funded work for assessment of its application in the context of interviews with high-value targets. Since then, the authors have collected the largest corpus of data anywhere in the world on real suspect interviews with terrorist detainees. This book shows what they found—that rapport-based methods work and that coercion, persuasion, and threats do not. Outlining the development of their own unique stance on rapport and its influences drawn from humanistic psychology, the authors show, through real-life examples and careful analysis, the reasons why “harsh methods” must be rejected and why compassion and understanding work in interrogation.

This chapter examines the impact of the UK National Counter-Terrorism Training program (Alcyone). Alcyone is a 6-day course that provides the following: (1) psychological training in Observing Rapport Based Interpersonal Techniques (ORBIT), (2) input on pre-interview briefing, and (3) legislation and input on safety interviewing. Approximately 80% of the course involves scenario-based role-play with additional knowledge checks and short lecture inputs. The chapter details the analysis used to assess the program’s impact. Multivariate analysis of variance revealed that Alcyone-trained officers showed a significantly greater reliance on adaptive interpersonal skills that had been taught in the course and demonstrated significantly fewer maladaptive interpersonal behaviors that they had been taught to avoid. There was also a significant increase in the use of rapport-based behaviors and a greater extraction of information from the suspects. Although several other factors may also account for an increase in yield, the increase in all the aspects that these officers had been taught in the course provides support that the course had a positive impact. This has implications for interview training programs and for the dissemination of evidence-based practice for counterterrorism interviewing.

This chapter outlines the definition of and use of rapport, based on principles of humanistic psychology. While rapport has been recognized in countless studies as a key feature of successful interrogations, it has historically been poorly defined and operationalized. This chapter uses real-world examples to highlight what rapport is and what it is not. The chapter also highlights key concepts and strategies drawn from the motivational interviewing literature that can be successfully applied to an interrogation context. Specifically, the chapter discusses a form of interviewee resistance known as “reactance,” which can be created by an interviewer trying too hard to make someone talk.