1. My gut feeling tells me that the SERE camps were 'laboratories' and part of the training program for military counter-intelligence and interrogator personnel. I heard this anecdotally as far as the training goes….

2. Looking at Gitmo in the 'big picture', you have to wonder why it is still in operation though they know so many are innocent of major charges. A look through history at the various 'experimentation' programs of the DOD gives a ready answer. The camp provides a major opportunity to expose a population to various psychological control techniques. Look at some of the stuff that has become public, and this becomes even more apparent. Especially the sensory deprivation--not only sleep, but there are the photos of inmates in gas masks or sight/hearing/smell deprivation setups. There has already been voluminous research into sensory deprivation, and it seems this is another good opportunity for more."

PENS Task Force

As word spread about the involvement of health professionals, psychologists included, in abusive interrogations, pressure built on professional associations to do something about the situation. The American Psychological Association decided to form a Presidential Task Force on Psychological Ethics and National Security (PENS). Strangely, the APA did not release the names of PEN task force to the APA membership, nor were the names included in the report. The PENS membership was first published in the press in full by Mark Benjamin of Salon last July, more than a year after the PENS report was released; Benjamin got the names from a Congressional source, not the APA.

Let's look at a few of the members, as described in their official APA biographical statements:

Colonel Morgan Banks "is currently the Command Psychologist and Chief of the Psychological Applications Directorate of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC)…. He is the senior Army Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) Psychologist, responsible for the training and oversight of all Army SERE Psychologists, who include those involved in SERE training…. He provides technical support and consultation to all Army psychologists providing interrogation support, and his office currently provides the only Army training for psychologists in repatriation planning and execution, interrogation support, and behavioral profiling."

Robert A. Fein "is currently a consultant to the Directorate for Behavioral Sciences of the Department of Defense Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA), the DOD Criminal Investigative Task Force (CITF), and the U.S. Secret Service's National Threat Assessment Center. He also serves as a member of the Intelligence Science Board."

Colonel Larry C. James "was the Chief Psychologist for the Joint Intelligence Group at GTMO, Cuba, and in 2004 he was the Director, Behavioral Science Unit, Joint Interrogation and Debriefing Center at Abu Ghraib, Iraq. Col. James was assigned to Iraq to develop legal and ethical policies consistent with the Geneva Convention Guidelines and the APA Ethics Code in response to the abuse scandal."

Captain Bryce E. Lefever "was assigned to the Navy's Survival Evasion Resistance Escape (SERE) School from 1990 to 1993. He served with Navy Special Forces from 1998 to 2003 and was deployed as the Joint Special Forces Task Force psychologist to Afghanistan in 2002, where he lectured to interrogators and was consulted on various interrogation techniques. Capt. Lefever has been deployed to many parts of the world during his career including Haiti, Panama, Israel, Afghanistan, Italy, Bahrain, Crete, Puerto Rico, Iceland, Antarctica, and Spain where he has lectured on Brainwashing: The Method of Forceful Interrogation."

R. Scott Shumate "has worked for the federal government in highly classified positions that have required him to travel extensively and live overseas. He has performed many of his duties under highly stressful and difficult circumstances. In May of 2003, Dr. Shumate accepted a senior position in the Department of Defense as the Director of Behavioral Science for the Counterintelligence Field Activity…. DOD/CIFA is responsible for support to offensive and defensive counterintelligence (CI) efforts…. His team of renowned forensic psychologists are engaged in risk assessments of the Guantánamo Bay Detainees."

Also on the PENS taskforce was Michael Gelles. Dr. Gelles was the chief psychologist for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Dr. Gelles was at Guantánamo in order to develop evidence for potential criminal prosecution of detainees. As he witnessed the treatment of detainees, he was outraged and became a whistleblower. According to a Boston Globe article "Dr. Michael Gelles, completed a study of Guantánamo interrogations in December 2003 that included extracts of detainee interrogation logs. Gelles reported to the service director, David Brant, that interrogators were using 'abusive techniques and coercive psychological procedures.'" As such, Dr. Gelles is one of the true heroes of this rather sordid tale. At the same time, however, it is at least debatable for two reasons whether he should have been on the PENS taskforce. First, as a member of the military hierarchy he was subject to military discipline, rather than being a free agent; like the other PENS members from the military and intelligence services, his career could be directly affected by the outcome of the PENS process. [Just ask the heroic Navy JAG attorney, Lt. Commander Charles Swift who won a landmark Supreme Court victory against the Guantánamo military tribunals in the Hamdan case, only to be forced to retire after over 20 years of service.] Further, as a psychologist and military interrogator, Dr. Gelles was in no position to seriously consider the view that involvement in interrogations was, in itself, unethical.

Not surprisingly, given its composition, the PENS report concluded:

"The Task Force stated that it is consistent with the APA Ethics Code for psychologists to serve in consultative roles to interrogation and information-gathering processes for national security-related purposes."

In handling this report, the APA did not follow normal procedures and did not present it to the elected Council of Representatives for discussion and approval. Rather, within days it was presented to and approved by the APA Board, circumventing Council.

Other Professional Associations

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