But the APA's silence-is-golden-we're waiting-for-the-facts rationale is misguided and self-serving. In particular, it disguises a simple truth: while Mr. Hoffman's report may well provide valuable new information, many critically important facts have already been established. Pretending otherwise is a disservice to APA members, to the profession as a whole, and to the public at large. Here are some of the facts we already know:
Fugitive Facts
* Office of Legal Counsel and related government memos from the Bush Administration required the presence of psychologists in order for various "enhanced interrogation techniques," including waterboarding, to be used. Nevertheless, APA Ethics Office Director Stephen Behnke publicly insisted that psychologists played a valuable role in keeping interrogations "safe, legal, ethical, and effective." He also asserted that media reports of psychologist involvement in abuse were "long on hearsay and innuendo, short on facts," and, according to a New York Times reporter, that psychologists "knew not to participate in activities that harmed detainees."
* James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, the recognized architects of the CIA torture program, were invited participants at a 2003 APA-sponsored (and CIA-funded) invitation-only workshop on the "science of deception." The workshop agenda included discussion of interrogation strategies, including the use of "pharmacological agents" and "sensory overloads." When senior APA Science Directorate staff member Geoff Mumford sought feedback from participants after the workshop had concluded, the CIA's Kirk Hubbard told him that Mitchell and Jessen were unavailable because they were "doing special things to special people in special places."
* James Mitchell was an APA member during the period in which he designed the CIA's "enhanced interrogation program" and participated directly in the torture of detainees at CIA black sites. Mitchell was also still an APA member when the first public report suggesting his possible involvement in detainee abuse appeared in the press. The APA Ethics Committee has the authority to investigate possible ethical violations on its own initiative at any time. In its immediate response last October to the publication of James Risen's book Pay Any Price, the APA public affairs office, directed by Rhea Farberman, falsely claimed that Mitchell was never an APA member.
* APA Ethics Office Director Stephen Behnke hosted a 2004 private meeting at APA headquarters for top-level APA staff, including Deputy CEO Michael Honaker, and senior representatives of the intelligence community, including the CIA's Kirk Hubbard (who later went to work for Mitchell and Jessen). In his invitation to the meeting, which focused on ethics in national security settings, Behnke assured the participants that their names would never be made public and that "in the meeting we will neither assess nor investigate the behavior of any specific individual or group." This meeting led to the creation of the APA's 2005 Presidential Task Force on Psychological Ethics and National Security (PENS).
* A clear majority of the nine voting members of the APA's 2005 PENS Task Force were on the payroll of the Department of Defense or intelligence community at the time of their participation. Several of them served in chains of command where detainee abuses allegedly took place. After a single weekend meeting, the Task Force asserted that it was ethical for psychologists to participate in national security detention and interrogation operations -- a stance consistent with pre-existing Bush Administration policy. At the time of the PENS meeting, there were already news reports of psychologists' involvement in abusive interrogations at Guantanamo Bay.
* After the PENS Report had been issued, APA's Geoff Mumford thanked Kirk Hubbard for his role "in getting this effort off the ground." He also assured Hubbard that his views "were well represented by very carefully selected Task Force members." Hubbard was employed by the CIA at the time that the PENS members were selected. And when he extended his thanks to Hubbard, Mumford knew that Hubbard was employed by the firm of CIA contract psychologists James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
