FM 34 - 52 Intelligence Interrogation The US Army Field Manual on Interrogation , sometimes known by the military nomenclature FM 34 - 52 , is a 177 - page manual describing to military interrogators how to conduct effective interrogations while conforming with US and international law . It has been replaced by FM 2 - 22 . 3 Human Intelligence Collector Operations . Interrogations during the ' global war on terror ' . During the American war on terror the Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld issued " enhanced interrogation techniques " that went farther than those authorized in the Army Field Manual . The extended techniques stimulated debate , both within the Bush administration , and outside it . Various revisions of the extended techniques were issued . Rumsfeld intended the extended techniques to be used only on the captives the United States classified as " illegal combatant s . " But extended interrogation techniques were adopted in Iraq , even though captives there were entitled to protection under the Geneva Conventions . General Geoffrey Miller , who was then the director of interrogation of detainees held in Guantanamo Bay , and some of his staff were sent to Iraq to help transfer their interrogation experience . Military Intelligence troops had been using extended techniques in Afghanistan , notably Captain Carolyn Wood . General Ricardo Sanchez , the CO of American forces in Iraq , after input from Miller and his team , and from Captain Wood , issued his own set of extended techniques . Detainee Treatment Act . On July 25 , 2005 Senator John McCain — a POW and torture victim during the Vietnam War — submitted an amendment to a military spending bill , intended to restrict all US government interrogators from using interrogation techniques not authorized in the Army Field Manual . On October 20 , 2005 Vice President Dick Cheney met with McCain to try to convince him to agree that his amendment should only apply to military interrogators . Cheney wanted to continue to allow civilian interrogators , working for US intelligence agencies , to use more extended interrogation techniques . McCain did not agree . McCain ' s amendment passed , and is now called the Detainee Treatment Act . Plans to revise the manual to allow extended techniques . On April 28 , 2005 Defense Secretary Rumsfeld announced that the Army would be revising the manual . The revised manual would have spelled out more clearly which interrogation techniques were prohibited . On December 14 , 2005 , the New York Times reported that the Army Field Manual had been rewritten by the Pentagon . Previously , the manual ' s interrogation techniques section could be read freely on the internet . But the new edition includes 10 classified pages in the interrogation technique section , leaving the public no indication about what the government considers not to be torture . On June 5 , 2006 the Los Angeles Times reported that the Pentagon ' s revisions will remove the proscription against " humiliating and degrading treatment " , and other proscriptions from of the third Geneva Convention . The LA Times reports that the State Department has argued against the revisions because of the effect it will have on the world ' s opinion of the United States . In 2006 there was an ongoing debate over whether the interrogation section should be classified . The New York Times reported that the Pentagon was considering making the interrogation section public once again , but the Pentagon made no formal announcement of its intentions . On September 6 , 2006 , the U . S . Army announced the publication of Field Manual ( FM ) 2 - 22 . 3 , " Human Intelligence Collector Operations . " The Army ' s news release stated that Field Manual 2 - 22 . 3 replaces Field Manual 34 - 52 ( published in 1992 ) . The new manual specifically prohibits many of the controversial enhanced interrogation techniques ( including " waterboarding " ) which brought the matter to public attention , and also stipulates that the list is not all - inclusive of prohibited actions .