Intelligence interrogation, U.S., review

United States intelligence interrogation methods have been under reconsideration for some time, well before the George W. Bush Administration. Not only the methods of interrogation, but the broader area of voluntary and involuntary contacts have been controversial. For example, during the Carter Administration, there were policies that U.S. intelligence personnel should have no involvement with foreign nationals accused of human rights violations; this produced the problem of cutting off access to the people with most knowledge of governments that routinely committed human rights violations. There was also increased emphasis on highly technical means of intelligence collection, and large numbers of Central Intelligence Agency human-source intelligence personnel were involuntarily retired. Unfortunately, no satellite has been built that can look into the human mind.