Former Federal Agents Urge Supreme Court to Hear Case Involving FBI Torture

HRF issued a release about Mark and two former FBI agents filed an amicus brief, urging the Supreme Court to hear a case about possible constitutional violations committed by FBI agents during an overseas counterterrorism operation.  Mark, Don Borelli and Joe Navarro, from the FBI said: “FBI agents are required to adhere to the Constitution whenever and wherever they carry out their work.”

Event Date
2016-07-14
Pub/Org
Human Rights First

Marine Crew In Alps Tragedy Misinformed, Lawyer Argues

The Washington Post reported on a Marine Corps jet that severed a gondola cable, killing 20 in the Italian Alps.  Mark testified that his team of investigators found no evidence to support rumors of a “cable care club” consisting of aviators who had flown below gondola cables. Mark also testified about a video camera found in the front cockpit after the incident.

Marine Pilot Sought to Get Back Into Jet, Witness Says

The LA Times reported on a Marine pilot destroying the videotape of a flight where he killed 20 skiers in the Italian Alps.

Mark said the tape was important because it would have provided irrefutable evidence about what happened during the flight.  Mark considered his work a criminal investigation from the day it began, on Feb. 4, 1998, even thought a formal order for a criminal investigation wasn’t issued until March 14. The dates were important to prosecutors and defense lawyers because the prosecution contends Ashby should have known an inquiry was underway when he helped get rid of the tape a few days later.

Event Date
1999-04-30
Pub/Org
Los Angles Times

A Severed Head, Two Cops, And The Radical Future Of Interrogation

Wired Magazine did a story on how some of the government HIG sponsored research into lawful and effective interview and interrogation practices are being utilized by local police departments to improve practices.  The article highlighted some of the successes within the Los Angles Police Department Detective Bureau.  Mark told Wired “We haven’t operationalized enough of the research” and explained embracing the behavioral sciences could revolutionize law enforcement procedures that way DNA had.

Event Date
2015-05-24
Pub/Org
Wired Magazine

FBI Trains Local, Federal Officers, Other Nations On Interrogation

Mark and HIG Director Frazier Thompson were interviewed about the importance of lawful, humane and scientifically informed interrogations.  Mark emphasized the importance by referencing to statistics from the Innocence Project on false confessions.

Event Date
2015-11-17
Pub/Org
The Crime Report

High Risk Training — The New Norm for NCIS

The Navy News Service reported on the new FLETC Counterterrorism Operations Training Facility and the manner in which NCIS was having to train personnel to deploy into combat zones.  Mark underscored the importance of the new facilities and said “High-risk operations are becoming the norm for agents around the world.”

Event Date
2005-10-20
Pub/Org
Navy News Service

Gizmo interrogations spark battle over tactics

Bill Dedman wrote about Mark and others speaking publicly for the first time about the efforts waged to try to stop coercive and degrading detainee treatment at Guantanamo Bay.  Mark told NBC that coercive interrogations trained confessions and made left them unable to prosecute terrorist suspects.  Mark explained to NBC News “We always said, there are no secrets, just delayed disclosures” and CITF personnel were told their grandchildren would ask them what they did during the war, so “We wanted our folks to be proud.”  Mark described the investigative process CITF used to investigate terrorists.

Can the ’20th hijacker’ of Sept. 11 stand trial?

Bill Dedman reported on the torture of Guantanamo detainee Mohammed al-Qahtani and Mark and the CITF’s battles to try to prevent his torture.  Dedman described the SERE tactics that were used on the prisoner and approvals by the Secretary of Defense.  Mark told NBC “You’re talking illegal acts here.  The secretary of defense can’t change the law.  One of the things that we told our personnel was the fact that during Nuremberg, Nazi war criminals were actually tried for acts that were perpetrated by them under orders of their superiors.”  Mark also told NBC that “The techniques made some detainees unprosecutable.”