Interviews & Podcasts
Mark Fallon has been a guest on podcasts and other media discussing interrogation science, national security, human rights and ethical leadership.
Mark Fallon joins Truth Be Told to examine the lessons of Guantanamo Bay, the failures of torture and coercive interrogation, and why America is strongest when its actions match its values.
Listen
Mark Fallon exposes the dangerous myth popularized by Hollywood — that torture and coercion actually work. As a Member of the Méndez Principles Steering Committee, he breaks down why coercive interrogation isn't just ineffective, it's actively counterproductive. From extracting false confessions to wasting critical time, the reliance on force destroys the integrity of justice. Discover why true professional standards rely on science-based, humane interviewing rather than outdated, abusive practices.
Watch
Former UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Prof. Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, former Guantanamo detainees Mansoor Adayfi (GTMO 441) and Moazzam Begg (GTMO 558), and former career NCIS special agent Mark Fallon — who served as the Special Agent-in-Charge and Deputy Commander of the DOD Criminal Investigation Task Force (DOD CITF) — discuss the enduring legacy of the US Torture Program on human rights and the rule of law.
Watch
Mark Fallon, a globally recognized expert in interrogation, counter-terrorism, and national security, explores his storied career from real-life NCIS agent to leading the Criminal Investigation Task Force at Guantanamo Bay. Mark shares insights on ethical interrogation practices, strategic leadership in law enforcement, and how the JPS Trust Collective is transforming policing through science-based approaches and expertise from diverse public safety disciplines.
Watch
Pamela Hamilton welcomes Mark Fallon to The Lit Interviews for a conversation on leadership, values, and high-stakes operations. From busting drug lords to leading the Pentagon task force charged with bringing the 9/11 terrorists to justice, Mark shares leadership lessons that extend far beyond national security — including the duty to disobey an unlawful order, the interrogation techniques that actually work (hint: they involve rapport), and what it takes to lead under pressure in some of the most dangerous places in the world.
Listen
In this conversation, Mark Fallon shares his extensive background in investigative interviewing and counterterrorism, detailing his experiences with the NCIS and the impact of 9/11 on interrogation practices. He discusses the ethical implications of interrogation techniques, particularly in the context of the Enhanced Interrogation Techniques (EIT) program and emphasises the importance of research in developing effective interviewing methods. Mr. Fallon also reflects on his book "Unjustifiable Means", which critiques the use of torture and advocates for humane treatment of detainees. He highlights the need for cultural shifts within law enforcement to embrace science-based methods and the importance of maintaining integrity in policing.
Listen
Counterterrorism expert Mark Fallon discusses the evolution of interrogation techniques and the importance of building rapport in obtaining accurate and reliable information. Fallon draws on his experience in high-profile terrorism investigations — including the USS Cole and World Trade Center bombings and interrogations at Guantanamo — to highlight the shift from confession-driven methodologies to relationship-building techniques, the role of empathy in high-pressure interrogations, and the need for improved interview training in law enforcement grounded in psychological science.
Watch
Dave Thompson, CFI welcomes Mark Fallon to WZ All Access to discuss the Méndez Principles — formally known as the Principles on Effective Interviewing for Investigations and Information Gathering. Mark explores what the principles are, how they were developed, and how they will shape the future of investigative interviewing and interrogations, including how to build rapport, gather information effectively, and move the field away from coercive, confession-driven methodologies.
Watch
After evading the US for 20 years and outlasting the Afghanistan war, al-Qa'ida Emir Ayman al-Zawahiri was eliminated at age 71. Mark Fallon discusses the significance of this counterterrorism milestone and what it means for the families of victims of the 9/11 attacks, the USS Cole bombing, and the East Africa bombings, as well as the broader landscape of global violent extremism.
Watch
Mark Fallon speaks with the West Point Center on Oral History about the use of torture as an instrument of war — drawing on his experience as Special Agent-in-Charge of the DOD Criminal Investigation Task Force at Guantanamo Bay to explain why no good intelligence is gained through torture, and why science-based, humane interviewing methods are both more effective and more consistent with American values and the rule of law.
Watch
Retired NCIS senior agent Mark Fallon joins SpyTalk's Jeff Stein to discuss the censorship of his exposés on Guantánamo and torture — including the more than 113 redactions in his book Unjustifiable Means — and the ongoing effort to hold the US government accountable for its embrace of torture as an instrument of national policy.
Listen
Mark Fallon spent 27 years as an NCIS special agent and served as the US Deputy Assistant Director for Counterterrorism. He's operated undercover in some of the darkest corners of the world — with drug lords in Thailand, capturing poachers in the Kenyan bush — and spent time questioning prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Mark discusses the US government's decision to embrace torture as an instrument of national policy, the rapport-based techniques grounded in science that preserve the dignity of both sides of the interrogation table, and why those methods produce more reliable information.
ListenAs the former Special Agent-in-Charge of the DOD Criminal Investigation Task Force, established following the 9/11 attacks to bring suspected terrorists to justice before Military Commissions at Guantanamo Bay, Mark Fallon spoke to BBC World News about the legacy of torture at black sites and dark prisons.
WatchMark Fallon was interviewed by BBC World News about the inferior negotiation position the Biden administration faced in dealing with the Taliban, while the U.S. continues to keep Guantanamo open as a symbol of injustice, torture and oppression — especially as some Taliban leadership had been victims of SERE-based interrogational abuses in dark prisons in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo. 39 prisoners remained at Guantanamo, some in indefinite detention without trial, outside the rule of law.
Watch
Former NCIS Deputy Assistant Director for Counterterrorism and Special Agent-in-Charge of the Pentagon's Criminal Investigation Task Force (CITF) Mark Fallon spoke with the Deception Society about the US SERE-based torture program — illegal, immoral, ineffective and counterproductive — and the importance of bridging the gap between the science and practice of interviewing and interrogation. Topics include the family of interrogational abuses, the casualties of conditioned cruelty, the road toward scientific research on effective interviewing, and the benefits of rapport-based, relationship-centered methods to elicit accurate and reliable information.
Watch
Mark Fallon speaks about bridging the gap between the science and practice of interrogation at the unveiling of the Méndez Principles on Effective Interviewing — an evolution to science-based methods to protect human rights, promote the rule of law, and improve the practice of global policing and national security. Grounded in science, law and ethics, the Méndez Principles represent the shift to rapport-based methods that produce more accurate and reliable information gathering, away from accusatory, coercive and confession-based tactics.
Watch
Mark Fallon joined MSNBC anchor Ali Velshi to discuss his book Unjustifiable Means and the broader debate over U.S. torture policies — examining why coercive interrogation is not only morally indefensible but operationally counterproductive, and what science-based, humane interviewing methods offer instead.
Watch
At a UN General Assembly side event moderated by Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Andrew Gilmour, and featuring UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince Zeid bin Ra'ad Zeid al-Hussein — who stated that "torture is not only deeply wrong, but, from an intelligence gathering standpoint, deeply counterproductive" — former NCIS Deputy Assistant Director for Counterterrorism Mark Fallon served on the experts panel explaining how torture has made us less safe.
Watch
Mark Fallon joined Fox News to discuss the ongoing debate over the use of torture and enhanced interrogation techniques by the United States government, drawing on his experience as a former NCIS Special Agent and head of the Criminal Investigation Task Force at Guantanamo Bay.
Watch
Additional interviews with Mark Fallon can be found on his YouTube Channel.