"What did [Dr. Seligman] think he was doing when he went to talk to the CIA at their confab at the [Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape] school? How did he know [CIA psychologists and architects of the torture program, James] Mitchell and [Bruce] Jessen were in the audience, unless--did he speak to them? Did he know what their role was, in terms of interrogations? You know, there are a lot of things that would be great to know," Mayer said. "It's hard to tell, because he keeps shutting down the conversation when it gets interesting."
Finally, I asked Dr. Seligman whether the CSF program received approval from an Institutional Review Board (IRB), which would be required for government research, and whether soldiers needed to provide their informed consent to participate, in Dr. Seligman's words, "the largest study psychology has ever been involved."
Dr. Seligman would not respond to my questions about the IRB process or informed consent and referred me to the director of CSF, Brig. Gen. Rhonda Cornum. I sent queries Thursday afternoon to Brig. Gen. Cornum and Army media relations. I will be writing a follow-up report when I receive a response.
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