CIA Renewed Contract With Psychologists Who Endorsed Waterboarding Weeks After Obama Took Office Before Firing Them

Amid the headlines about CIA director Leon Panetta's comments on Dick Cheney's motivations for his criticism of Obama, a much-bigger revelation was tucked into Jane Mayer's new story in the New Yorker.

Weeks after Obama took office, the CIA extended its contract with the former military psychologists who have been called the architects of waterboarding before eventually firing them:

In April, Panetta fired all the C.I.A.'s contract interrogators, including the former military psychologists who appear to have designed the most brutal interrogation techniques: James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen. The two men, who ran a consulting company, Mitchell, Jessen & Associates, had recommended that interrogators apply to detainees theories of "learned helplessness" that were based on experiments with abused dogs. The firm's principals reportedly billed the agency a thousand dollars a day for their services. "We saved some money in the deal, too!" Panetta said. (Remarkably, a month after Obama took office the C.I.A. had signed a fresh contract with the firm.)

James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen were paid $1,000 a day by the agency to oversee harsh interrogation techniques used on terror suspects, reported ABC News.

"The whole intense interrogation concept that we hear about, is essentially their concepts," according to Col. Steven Kleinman, an Air Force interrogator.

Mitchell and Jessen appear to have closed down their business, which was located in Spokane, Washington.

Mayer also reports that "most of the individuals who managed the secret interrogation program have since left the agency" except for CIA Deputy Director Stephen R. Kappes.

Kappes was previously the deputy director for operations from 2002 to 2004, where he was responsible for the counterterrorism division that directed the interrogation program.

Comments

[talkitreal]

YES WE KNOW THAT PRESIDENT OBAMA SHUT DOWN THE PROGRAM, AND THAT THE CONTRACTORS WERE FIRED !

[obamanomics]

The detainee Dan Rather interviewed a week or so ago said the torture had intensified since Obama was elected.

[mcantwell]

Specifically, which tor ture techniques are you referring to. By the way, I thought you supported tor ture under Bu sh.

[BPCentrisAmerican]

Your one of the dumbest people, who blogs on this site, or your payed to do it.

[Everymanic]

Same dog, different color. We are in a world of hurt as a country. Truly, he was our last best hope. We are on our own now. As if we hadn't been this whole time. But, let's face it; the speed with which the Orwellian prophecies are coming to fruition is unbearable. And let us not forget that all of this is being done in the name of September 11th. So, what if September 11th was...? Read more on my blog http://republicindrag.blogspot.com/

[northstar11]

did you pay for this ad?

[confidance government]

Of course, this shouldn't be surprising. POTUS has reserved the right to use "enhanced interrogation techniques" in "certain clearly defined scenarios."

He still supports the concept of indefinite detention; in closing Guantanamo he will be merely shipping the majority of the prisoners back to Bagram away from the prying eyes of the humanitarian community.

We elected a tyrant.

[talkitreal]

Are you insane! The program was SHUT DOWN, and the contractors were FIRED!

[obamanomics]

Except for the fact a detainee was interviewed by Dan Rather and made the claim the torture was even worse since Obama was elected. Of course you never will see that reported around here.

[confidance government]

This one program was shut down, I did not dispute that.

[thenorthshore]

"thousand dollars a day for their services..."

for what

playing the drinking game

[catbutt]

Had I knowen the torture advisors came from my own back yard, I would have protested thier offices everyday. I'm embaressed to know I live in the same state as these As*holes.

[madisonhack]

Now you can understand what the Dixie Chicks were talking about.

[breakingpoint]

honor and trust the CIA?

[Tier3]

I hope their children never forgive them

[We-Are-The-Ones]

And this is a story because . . . ?

Is there some inference to be drawn here because . . . ?

[ReallyMe]

Well, yes.
The leadership at the CIA knew full well this stuff was going to stop under the Obama administration. Renewing the contract basically says "Screw you." to the president and the American people.

Besides that, to me, it seems like fraud, waste and abuse. I wonder how much money they got for having their contracts (that never should have been extended) canceled? There was very likely a penalty clause in the contract for early cancelation.

[CaptainVideo]

Many loyal Bushies and people loyal the Chaney are firmly entrenched in the government bureacracy. It will take time to dig them all out and either fire them, or, if they are protected by civil service move them ot postions where they have no power.

[realpolitic]

The two psychologists hired by the CIA Mitchell and Jessen were "previously involved in the U.S. military program to train pilots how to survive behind enemy lines and resist brutal tactics if captured," the SERE training. Unsurprisingly for the Bush administration, "it turns out neither Mitchell nor Jessen had any experience in conducting actual interrogations before the CIA hired them." According to ABC news, "They went to two individuals who had no interrogation experience," said Col. Kleinman. "They are not interrogators."

Again according to ABC news, "The new documents show the CIA later came to learn that the two psychologists' waterboarding "expertise" was probably "misrepresented" and thus, there was no reason to believe it was "medically safe" or effective. The waterboarding used on al Qaeda detainees was far more intense than the brief sessions used on U.S. military personnel in the training classes."

Abu Zubaydah was waterboarding 83 times.

"That contradicts what former CIA officer John Kiriakou, who led the Zubaydah capture team, told ABC News in 2007 when he first revealed publicly that waterboarding had been used.

He said then, based on top secret reports he had access to, that Zubaydah had only been water boarded once and then freely talked."

As usual with the Bush administration, everything is based on lies.

[stephanemot]

so what ? change is coming, but not always by Fedex

gimme a break, and give those felons something that prevents a prison break:
http://e-blogules.blogspot.com/2009/04/insects-placed-in-confinement-box.html

[Robert Cantor]

renewed contracts ... fired 'em ... and ... paid off the balance of the contracts? Just asking.

[abouttime]

Please explain this from article: "...have since left the agency" except for CIA Deputy Director Stephen R. Kappes.... previously the deputy director for operations [CIA] from 2002 to 2004, where he was RESPONSIBLE [caps for emphasis] for the counterterrorism division that directed the interrogation program.
Seriously, is this acceptable are should he be tried for crimes against humanity with Chenney?
And why is he still in CIA?
Well... ?
Anybody...?

[ljc]

I believe I read that it was Diane Feinstein that insisted that Kappes stayed on.

[restoretheroar]

let the investigations begin. get bush, get cheney, get pelosi, and now get BO? uh oh. will libs have the stomach for this?

[sviolette]

Only if he is guilty of war crimes. Got any evidence? I didn't think so.

[CaptainVideo]

If you do not investigate possible war crimes, you are not going to get any evidence.

That is why we need a truth commission to thoroughly investigate just what happened. On the basis of the evidence the commission discovers, we can then identify which Bush administration officials need to be prosecuted for war crimes. (I would conjecture that this includes Rumsfeld and Cheney.)

If we do not prosecute the war criminals it will only be a matter of time until this happens again.

[najablah]

The problem with Republicans is that everything must be viewed through a political/electoral lens. You think liberals won't support investigations because it might snare some Democrats? Please. You underestimate the average liberal's respect for the rule of law. Your view is tainted by your singular focus on the political angle. The rule of law plays on part in your calculus.

[houseafire]

I'm a Democrate....bring on the investigations, I'd like to see anyone and everyone who was involved stoned!

[MikeRdg]

blue lions, did your team win any games last year?

[MikeRdg]

But come on Mitchell and Jessen, was not learned helplessness used on memberswho decent church members too, by your lds good ole boys?!

That line needs to be re typed.

But come on Mitchell and Jessen, was not learned helplessness used on members who decent, by your LDS good ole boys, not to mention close friends and associates, who like to be political hanger ons to he would got no where speaking millions and millions of his own bucks in the pres race, and his stupid family.

Got new for you, they don't bark, but they have a lasting bite, in a figurative sort of way.

[MikeRdg]

Typing in the dark, does not work......

"he would got no where speaking millions and millions of his own bucks in the pres race"

he who got no where spending millions and millions of his own bucks...........

[GeoLee]

I still don't get your comment about decent. Decent means fairly good or acceptable. Did you mean dissent which means don't go along with and say so, disagree with and similar meanings?