(Newswire.net — December 12, 2014) — The architects of the controversial CIA’s ‘Enhanced interrogation techniques,’ also called the CIA ‘Torture Techniques’ were kept classified, until now. The New York Times named two psychologists Dr. James Mitchell and Dr. Bruce Jessen as authors of the techniques the CIA applied on prisoners after 9/11, all around the world on both well known and lesser known military bases, like those in Poland, Romania, Lithuania Croatia Bosnia, or other countries. It is not yet confirmed if names the Times used are pseudonyms for Dr. Grayson Swigert and Dr. Hammond Dunbar, however, the CIA paid $81 million, for their services.
According to declassified documents, the two doctors created the program in 2002, following the capture of Abu Zubaydah, a Saudi arrested in Pakistan and suspected of being an al-Qaeda lieutenant.
The documents say Zubaydah was taken to an unnamed country, reportedly Thailand, where a prison, ‘detention site green’, became allegedly an experimental laboratory for Swigert and Dunbar.
The two doctors previously helped in developing programs for training Special Forces troops to experience and survive various interrogation techniques. The program subjected US soldiers to “coercive interrogation techniques that they might be subjected to if taken prisoner by countries that did not adhere to Geneva protections,” report says.
The report says neither doctor had any experience as an interrogator, nor did they have any knowledge of al-Qaeda. Swigert, however, had reviewed literature on “learned helplessness in which individuals might become passive and depressed in response to adverse or uncontrollable events”.
During his pitch for the program, Swigert described 12 SERE techniques that could prove useful to the CIA: “The attention grasp, walling, facial hold, facial slap, cramped confinement, standing, stress positions, sleep deprivation, water-board, use of diapers, use of insects, and mock burial.”
Previously designed to help American soldiers and CIA agents survive torture, the program soon evolved into a ‘creative and efficient’ way to extract information from the captives. Swigert and Dunbar realized their invention was lucrative and formed a company to conduct their work with the CIA.
According to the contract with Swigart and Dunbar, the CIA obliged to pay $180 million, however, the pair received in excess of $81 million before the deal was terminated in 2009.
The CIA had provided an “indemnification agreement” to “protect the company and its employees from legal liability arising out of the program”.