Some more:
. . . The interrogation of detainees extends far beyond SERE experts’ mission — teaching airmen and other military members to resist harsh interrogation techniques, according to testimony by Col. Steven Kleinman, an Air Force intelligence officer and interrogator.
(snip)
“I told them this is illegal,” Kleinman said. “I ended up putting a stop to it.”
Kleinman also testified that using SERE methods for interrogations is inappropriate because the communist techniques they are based on were designed to generate propaganda, not intelligence.
Colonel: SERE tactics used on Iraqi detainees - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times
While interrogation and teaching resistance to interrogation have much in common,
they are nonetheless profoundly different activities.
•Survival instructors operate in a domestic training environment and share both a language and culture with the students they teach. In contrast, interrogators are involved in worldwide operations and interact with foreign nationals across an often substantial cultural and linguistic divide.
•If questions arise about the student’s veracity during role-play, a survival
instructor need only call the student’s unit of assignment to verify the
information. Clearly, this is not an option for an interrogator for whom
detecting deception is a critical skill
•While interrogation role-play is limited in duration, frequency, and scope,
interrogations of custodial detainees may last hours and continue over a span
of months.
•The survival instructor’s focus is not on information but the performance of the student while the interrogator must doggedly pursue—and record—every detail of intelligence information a detainee possesses.
Senate Testimony: Col. Steven M. Kleinman
