Washington, DC - The American Psychological Association notified President Obama and other key federal officials of its new policy that includes a prohibition against psychologist participation in national security interrogations.
APA President Barry S. Anton, PhD, and APA CEO Norman B. Anderson, PhD, sent letters asking these officials to safeguard psychologists from involvement in any national security interrogations or detention settings that would risk placing them in conflict with APA's Ethics Code and policies related to national security.
"APA requests that military psychologists be protected from actions that might pose a conflict with the APA Ethics Code and that they be withdrawn from any role in national security interrogations or conditions of confinement that might facilitate such interrogations," the letters state. "They may provide general consultation on policy related to humane information-gathering methods that are not related to any specific national security interrogation or detention conditions."
Sending these letters was the first major step in the implementation of the new policy, adopted by APA's governing Council of Representatives at its meeting in August. Recipients of the letters were: President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, CIA Director John Brennan, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, Director of High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group Frazier Thompson IV, Attorney General Loretta Lynch and the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Armed Services, Intelligence and Judiciary Committees.
Under the new policy, psychologists may not:
1) Participate in national security interrogations or conditions of confinement that might facilitate such interrogations;
2) Work at detention settings operating in violation of the U.S. Constitution or international law (as deemed by specific U.N. authorities), including the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, unless providing treatment to military personnel or working directly for the detainees or for an independent third party to protect human rights. APA asked that any such psychologists be offered deployment elsewhere.
The letters note that "through their professional work, psychologists in national security roles strive to achieve, and are responsible to uphold, the highest levels of competence and ethics in their field."
The letters also reaffirm APA's commitment to human rights and urge the federal officials to "take affirmative steps to ensure that national security detainees in U.S. custody are treated fairly and humanely, and that they are granted — and are able to exercise — all of the rights guaranteed them under the U.S. Constitution, the U.N. Convention against Torture, and the Geneva Conventions."
APA sent letters on new policy banning psychologists from national security interrogations to:
- President Barack Obama (PDF, 32KB)
- Ashton B. Carter, secretary of defense, Defense Department (PDF, 32KB)
- John O. Brennan, director, Central Intelligence Agency (PDF, 32KB)
- James R. Clapper, director, National Intelligence (PDF, 32KB)
- Frazier Thompson IV, director, High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group (PDF, 43KB)
- Loretta E. Lynch, attorney general, U.S. Department of Justice (PDF, 32KB)
- Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, chairman, and Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., ranking member, Committee on Armed Services (PDF, 32KB)
- Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., chairman, and Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., ranking member, Committee on Armed Services (PDF, 32KB)
- Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., chairman, and Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., ranking member, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (PDF, 32KB)
- Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., chairman, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., ranking member, Select Committee on Intelligence (PDF, 32KB)
- Rep. Bob Goodlatte, chairman, and Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., ranking member, Committee on Judiciary (PDF, 32KB)
- Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman, and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., ranking member, Committee on Judiciary (PDF, 32KB)
The American Psychological Association, in Washington, D.C., is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States. APA's membership includes more than 122,500 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance the creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve people's lives.
