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The Ethics of Interrogation and the American Psychological Association: a Critique of Policy and Process Brad Olson*1, Stephen Soldz2 and Martha Davis3

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The Ethics of Interrogation and the American Psychological Association: a Critique of Policy and Process Brad Olson*1, Stephen Soldz2 and Martha Davis3 National Louis University Digital Commons@NLU Faculty Publications Winter 1-29-2008 The thicE s of Interrogation and the American Psychological Association: A Critique of Policy and Process Brad Olson Ph.D. National-Louis University Stephen Soldz Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis Martha Davis John Jay College of Criminal Justice Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.nl.edu/faculty_publications Part of the Theory and Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Olson, Brad Ph.D.; Soldz, Stephen; and Davis, Martha, "The thicE s of Interrogation and the American Psychological Association: A Critique of Policy and Process" (2008). Faculty Publications. 65. https://digitalcommons.nl.edu/faculty_publications/65 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons@NLU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@NLU. For more information, please contact digitalcommons@nl.edu. Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine BioMed Central Research Open Access The ethics of interrogation and the American Psychological Association: A critique of policy and process Brad Olson*1, Stephen Soldz2 and Martha Davis3 Address: 1Human Development and Social Policy, Northwestern University, 2120 Campus Drive, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA, 2Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis, 1581 Beacon St., Brookline, Massachusetts 02446, USA and 3John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, 899 Tenth Avenue, New York, New York 10019, USA Email: Brad Olson* - b-olson@northwestern.edu; Stephen Soldz - ssoldz@bgsp.edu; Martha Davis - madavis95@aol.com * Corresponding author Published: 29 January 2008 Received: 9 October 2007 Accepted: 29 January 2008 Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine 2008, 3:3 doi:10.1186/1747-5341-3-3 This article is available from: http://www.peh-med.com/content/3/1/3 © 2008 Olson et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract The Psychological Ethics and National Security (PENS) task force was assembled by the American Psychological Association (APA) to guide policy on the role of psychologists in interrogations at foreign detention centers for the purpose of U.S. national security. The task force met briefly in 2005, and its report was quickly accepted by the APA Board of Directors and deemed consistent with the APA Ethics Code by the APA Ethics Committee. This rapid acceptance was unusual for a number of reasons but primarily because of the APA's long-standing tradition of taking great care in developing ethical policies that protected anyone who might be impacted by the work of psychologists. Many psychological and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as well as reputable journalists, believed the risk of harm associated with psychologist participation in interrogations at these detention centers was not adequately addressed by the report. The present critique analyzes the assumptions of the PENS report and its interpretations of the APA Ethics Code. We demonstrate that it presents only one (and not particularly representative) side of a complex set of ethical issues. We conclude with a discussion of more appropriate psychological contributions to national security and world peace that better respect and preserve human rights. Introduction In the wake of September 11, 2001 and the subsequent The American Psychological Association (APA) has a long "war-on-terror", the APA decided to address the ethical history of opposing the misuse of psychological knowl- implications of psychologist "contributions" to U.S. edge in practice, assessment, research and any other activ- national security. Calling the situation an "emergency", ity utilizing the tools of the field [1,2]. The APA Ethical APA President Ronald Levant authorized the APA Presi- Principles of Psychologists – Code of Conduct has long been dential Task Force on Psychological Ethics and National the guide to both acceptable and prohibited behavior Security (PENS) [6]. The task force report and process gen- [3,4], and has long ensured the proper and safe use of psy- erated a number of controversies. One set revolved chological methods. It protects U.S. psychologists, but around the appointment of task force members who were most important of all, those who are most exposed and primarily psychologists serving active military or working most vulnerable to the misuse of psychology and its tools in some then current capacity with the U.S. Department of [5]. Defense (DoD) [7]. Criticism of the task force composi- tion grew when the identification of members revealed !"#$%&%'(%&) !"#$%&'()*%+&',-&.,+&/0-#-0,'&"(+",1%12 3405,1,"467&8-40/17&#'9&:()#'0-0%1&0'&;%90/0'%%*++,-%!./ 0112.3344452$067$859'739':1$:13/3&3/ deep connections with intelligence gathering, detainee PENS Report Statement #7, concluding that "psycholo- interrogations, and related operations within the DoD [8]. gists may serve in various national security-related roles, such as a consultant to an interrogation..." [[6], p. 6]. It is The report, hereafter referred to as the PENS Report, was true the Council of Representatives never voted to completed in 2005 [6]. Shortly thereafter, the APA Board approve the PENS report in its entirety, yet while Council of Directors and the APA Ethics Committee accepted the has expressed reservations and at one point demanded a report as policy. The APA leaders had not only underlined certain set of actions, they have never fully opposed the the importance of psychologists contributing to "national policy. Controversies regarding the PENS Report and security", but that the profession had a responsibility to interrogation policy among Council members and the serve U.S. society [9]. APA rules and regulations on such APA membership have nevertheless continued unabated. task forces require "emergency" reports to be ratified by the Council of Representatives at the next Council meet- The recommendations of the PENS Report, its basic ing. This vote did not then occur and has never occurred. premises, operational definitions, and reinterpretations of However, APA leadership have on several occasions the ethics code have long warranted a detailed evaluation. claimed that Council approved the report, and on almost This is the goal of our critique. We hope to develop ethical as many occasions, publicly retracted the statements. Most considerations regarding psychologists and detainee consequential, though, is that the APA Ethics Committee interrogations, and to help work toward improved poli- did officially approve the report, calling it, without a sin- cies on the role of psychologists within these settings. We gle alteration, consistent with the APA Code of Ethics. Yet believe that this critique supports an absolute prohibition it was the content of the report, and its seeming inconsist- of psychologists' direct involvement in these interroga- ency with psychological ethics, that provoked the strong- tions, and that this is the safest, wisest and most ethical est feelings throughout the APA membership, and less course of action for the American Psychological Associa- than favorable reactions from the media, among them The tion and its members. Such a ban, we believe, may also be New York Times [10]. the safest and surest course for national security [13]. Upon adoption, the PENS report became policy binding All U.S. psychologists accountable to all sections upon members of the APA involved in detainee interroga- of the code tions and other U.S. national security activities. As psy- The PENS Report, in one of its stronger statements, explic- chologists and members of the APA, the authors will itly affirmed that all U.S. psychologists, regardless of their elucidate a number of controversial issues regarding the different applied, research-based, or practitioner roles, PENS process and weaknesses in the reasoning of the were to be held fully accountable to all sections of the APA PENS report. ethics code [[6], p. 1]. This is a key conclusion, insisting, for instance, that a "clinically-trained" psychologists act- The incompatible nature of the PENS report and ing in a "consultant role" is responsible to both clinical the ethics code and consulting sections of the code, and even those sec- It would be inaccurate to say there was nothing positive in tions applying to assessment and research. It equally reaf- the PENS report. It had, after all, reaffirmed the 1982 APA firms the task force's commitment to existing ethical Resolution against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or principles and standards within the code, supported also, Degrading Treatment. Also, in 2006 and again in 2007, the of course, by the approval of the APA Ethics Committeea. Council of Representatives supported further resolutions To a large extent, we also feel comfortable with the current against torture with ever tighter and more explicit prohi- Ethics Code (with the important exception of new 2002 bitions [11,12]. However, each resolution had its own clauses, such as 1.02, that allow compliance with local problems and serious omissions and each resolution has law, regulations, or governing authorities when institu- preserved the direct role of psychologists in military and tional demands conflict with the psychologist's
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