What do you think about the high value interrogation group?

SSgt Alex Robinson — Sun, 23 Aug 2015 00:29:44 -0400

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/obamas-secret-elite-interrogation-squad-may-not-be-so-elite-after-all/ar-BBlQgbu?li=BBgzzfc

Obama's secret elite interrogation squad may not be so elite after all

When President Barack Obama took office, he promised to overhaul the nation's process for interrogating terror suspects. His solution: the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group, or HIG, a small interagency outfit that would use non-coercive methods and the latest psychological research to interrogate America's most-wanted terrorists -- all behind a veil of secrecy.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 23 at 2015 12:36 AM

1SG Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 23 Aug 2015 00:36:50 -0400

If it works, I'm all for it. The article is making guess as to the actual capabilities and success of the organization. So its actual success is unkown, which is the way it should be.

Response by MSgt Curtis Ellis made Aug 23 at 2015 12:39 AM

MSgt Curtis Ellis — Sun, 23 Aug 2015 00:39:17 -0400

"Military officials have told reporters that Umm Sayyaf, one of the people the HIG interrogated, provided invaluable information on ISIS before being turned over to Iraqi Kurdish authorities. But “the HIG hardly got anything out of her,”"

What can I say? The military (US Army) has a better pool of quality interrogators, and that's where the selection should have begun when hiring for the HIG. Again, another government backed program costing taxpayers more money than needed, when the capability to perform this function, as written, already exists with AD Mil and Ret Mil personnel who have actual experience performing this function.

Response by MAJ Bryan Zeski made Aug 23 at 2015 1:13 AM

MAJ Bryan Zeski — Sun, 23 Aug 2015 01:13:12 -0400

I thought we'd determined that torture really wasn't an effective method of information gathering. In fact, it worked terribly for the Japanese in WWII. Towards the end of the war, the Japanese captured a downed fighter pilot and tortured him into giving up information. They desperately wanted to know how many atomic bombs we had (we had about four, but he didn't have any clue), after they tortured him, he told them what he thought they wanted to hear - he said he said 100. After the first two atomic bombs, with the possibility of 98 more (knowledge gained through torture tactics of their VIP prisoner), they figured they had no choice but to surrender. Torture worked against their intelligence gathering and gave them false information which led to their eventual surrender. Torture is not effective and the fact that the US uses it is terrible.

Response by Capt Seid Waddell made Aug 23 at 2015 3:00 AM

Capt Seid Waddell — Sun, 23 Aug 2015 03:00:07 -0400

Hard to say if it is effective or not when all of the details are classified.

If it is as effective as this administration's foreign policy and economic policies I don't hold out much hope for it. Politics and ideology drive this administration more than operational effectiveness.

Do you remember the roll-out of the healthcare signup? What makes one think that their interrogation policies are any better? The POTUS doesn't listen to those in the field – he lectures them.

Response by SPC Rob Robinson made Aug 23 at 2015 7:58 PM

SPC Rob Robinson — Sun, 23 Aug 2015 19:58:30 -0400

If I'm making a marinara sauce, I use a lot of spices, but I'm not going to leave out the Oregano. Capice? You can't let one element over power the recipe, unless, as the MSGT said earlier, 'If it works, I'm for it.'

I'm more of on Army Lt. Col.'s school of thinking. In Iraq, he had a captive with self-professed knowledge of the whereabouts of four of his captured troopers. The Colonel's Army interrogators could not get any more out of him. The Colonel was polite when he asked him his mens' whereabouts. The response was that owing to his honor to his henchmen he could not divulge their location. The Colonel unholstered his 92F and shot the man " in the groin area". He then revealed their exact location and the troopers were rescued.

War is a function defined over and over again on each battlefield and in each separate situation. I used to be baffled, then amused and then really pissed off at the guys in the air conditioning [in and out of uniform] who defined "Right" and "Wrong".

It's victory or death, ladies. If I'm alive after the action and you think I've done something prosecutable, then bring it.