Guantanamo/Detainees
Defense Department wants group to lift ban on psychologists' participation in interrogations
The Department of Defense is asking the American Psychological Association to lift its blanket ban on psychologists participating in national security interrogations for the military and intelligence agencies.
A Defense Department official says in a letter to the association that the policy, adopted last summer, “could adversely affect the recruitment and retention of highly qualified psychologists” needed by the military. The New York Times and the Hill have stories on the Jan. 8 letter (PDF).
The letter also says the Defense Department is seeking confirmation that the APA’s views “are a matter of policy, not an ethical mandate.”
