Interrogation

Interrogation, in the contexts of both criminal investigation and human-source intelligence, is the process of obtaining information from a person who is not a fully willing participant in the process. Both those contexts may use elicitation and debriefing (human-source intelligence) related techniques to obtain information from a subject who considers herself or himself a voluntary participant in the interaction.

All interrogation involves some level of pressure on the subject, if only the potential of legal action against a person otherwise free to leave. In other words, the interrogator has some level of control. Interrogation, however, is customarily into non-coercive and coercive types; coercive interrogation involves detention, psychological, or physical pressures that can become torture.