U.S. Interrogation Practices: Are We Compromising Medical Ethics and Violating International Law?

At Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and “undisclosed locations,” some U.S. military interrogators have used troubling methods to try to get their captives to talk. Many of their efforts have been widely reported; some may have risen to the level of torture under international law. What is less known, but equally disturbing, is that military doctors often become arbiters, even planners, of aggressive interrogation practice, including prolonged isolation, sleep deprivation and exposure to temperature extremes. The Brookings Institution will hold a briefing to examine whether the use of health professionals in devising aggressive interrogation strategies is unethical and/or contrary to international law.

The briefing will be moderated by Michael E. O’Hanlon, senior fellow at Brookings, and will feature a dynamic group of panelists including: Alan A. Stone, M.D., Touroff-Glueck professor of law & psychiatry, Harvard Law School; Marc Sageman, M.D., Ph.D., adjunct professor of psychology, University of Pennsylvania and consultant to the CIA & other intelligence agencies; David Irvine, retired Brigadier General, U.S. Army; Jonathan H. Marks, Greenwall fellow in Bioethics, Georgetown & Johns Hopkins Universities; and M. Gregg Bloche, visiting fellow at Brookings and professor of law at Georgetown University.

A question and answer session will follow remarks.