In Just Security, David Luban included Mark when he wrote about honoring and celebrating those people within the government and military who never lost their moral bearings – who opposed and resisted the torture program. Luban referred to Mark’s position when he saw the CIA help enable torture at Guantanamo: “Fallon’s comment about the ‘stuff Congressional hearings are made of’ was prescient – for the minutes were released by Senator Carl Levin during hearings. And Fallon’s last ling should resonate with us – after all, ‘how will history look back at this’ depends completely on us.
Tag Archives: Counterterrorism
Wharton Professor Adam Grant Explains Why The Most Successful People Are Givers
In an interview in Business Week, Professor and author Adam Grant used Mark as an example of a giver during his career as an NCIS special agent.
Harsh interrogation debate returns with bin Laden takedown
Within hours of President Obama’s announcement that Osama bin Laden had been killed, former Bush administration officials began taking credit, purporting waterboarding and the EIT program led to the operation. CNN quoted from Mark’s interview on MSNBC, where he said “I think some people are trying to rewrite history here” and that he wasn’t aware “aware of an substantive information or intelligence that was a derivative product of waterboarding.”
Interrogator Letter to President on SSCI Declassification and the Torture Report
Mark was among the former professional interrogators and intelligence community officials urging President Obama to declassify the SSCI Torture Report and expressing concerns that CIA Director John Brennan was coordinating with the architect of the CIA torture program.
Murder of US general raised questions about insider attacks in Afghanistan
Mark was interviews on Fox News by Shepherd Smith after an Army general was ambushed and killed and eight other American soldiers were wounded by an Afghan soldier, raising concerns about insider attacks in Afghanistan. Mark explained that the challenges conducting an investigation in hostile non-permissive environment. Mark expressed concerns over the insider-threat and cautioned against downsizing counterintelligence and force protection assets, as we downsize the larger forces there.
Statement of National Security, Intelligence and Interrogation Professionals
Human Rights First brought together a high-level team of counterterrorism, interrogation, intelligence and national security professionals to develop a statement of principles about Constitutionally permissible interrogations. Mark was among this group, who stated torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment are illegal, ineffective, and immoral. Those practices were unconditionally rejected. The national security professionals published a statement that torture is illegal, ineffective, and counterproductive.
Collaboration Between Practice and Science Will Enhance Interrogations
Mark wrote a commentary for a special edition of the Journal of Applied Cognitive Psychology about some of the latest emerging research about interviews, interrogation and detecting deception. Mark explained that the lack of evidence-based research on interrogation created a murky claimant, where proponents of torture were able to cherry-pick information with dubious claims that abusive interrogations and torture would be effective.
America’s ‘torture shame’
BBC News referred to mark in this piece about the release of the Senate report on CIA torture.
Doctors and Detainees: The Role of Medical Professionals in Counterterrorism Efforts
Mark was interviewed for The Stream on Al Jazeera and discussed the role of medical professionals in torture. Mark said that the CIA outsourced torture to SERE psychologists lacking meaning experience in interrogation or terrorism to create the EIT program. Mark explained SERE, by design, hardens resistance and that Mitchell and Jessen damaged U.S. national security by the shameful practices they implemented.
Did US torture help track down Osama Bin Laden?
Rev. Al Sharpton talked with Mark about the release of the Senate Torture Report executive summary and whether CIA torture worked. Mark told MSNBC there was no basis for the CIA going down the road to torture and the people who created the program were not interrogation professionals and did not rely on subject matter experts in interrogation. Mark explained that personnel within the CIA were disgusted by the EIT program and there is no valid information that torture was necessary or effective.