APA Torture Scandal

**Overview:**

The APA torture scandal refers to a series of events that occurred from 2005 – 2015, in which members of the American Psychological Association (APA) were accused of colluding with the Department of Defense (DoD) to create lenient ethical guidelines around interrogation techniques. Allegations stated that in 2005, APA officials intentionally amended ethical guidelines as part of their role in the President Task Force on Ethics and National Security (PENS), so that psychologists could be involved in interrogations of prisoners detained abroad.

In 2014, the Board of Directors of the APA hired an outside law firm, Sidley Austin, to conduct an independent investigation of these allegations. The investigation took place over eight months, reviewing over 50,000 documents and completing interviews with 148 people. The investigation, later referred to as “The Hoffman Report,” concluded that APA officials intentionally implemented ethical guidelines that allowed the government officials to act without significant restraint in interrogations. Similarly, the report shared that APA officials acted in secret with the Department of Justice to combat efforts to challenge the PENS Task Force APA policy. In the same month that The Hoffman Report was completed, the *New York Times* obtained a copy of the report and published its findings. Following backlash from media outlets, three APA officials retired from the organization. Additionally, subsequent revisions were made to the APA Ethics Code to clearly delineate that psychologists should avoid causing harm and not engage in torture.

**Timeline:**

**2001-2005 - Political Climate and Formation of the PENS Task Force**

In the wake of 9/11, the CIA employed torture tactics known as “enhanced interrogation techniques.” These techniques included waterboarding, sleep deprivation, rectal feeding, and solitary confinement, among others. These practices were made known to the public in 2004, when photos were released of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and a Red Cross Report noted ethical violations of officials working within the prison Similarly, reports surfaced detailing psychologists’ roles within the prisons, noting that psychologists were members of Behavioral Science Consultation Teams (BSCT). In this role, psychologists monitored and advised interrogators.

Closely following these reports, the APA created a task force to review their ethics policies surrounding interrogation and national security. In fact, the Hoffman Report later uncovered emails detailing that the creation of the task force was a direct result of the Red Cross Report. Communication between APA officials indicated that they felt a skilled response was needed to address concerns of ethical conduct without directly answering the public's questions. Additionally, some officials felt a need to support military psychologists and also support the DoD, which was one of the largest employers of psychologists in the country. With this in mind, the APA created the Presidential Task Force on Ethics and National Security (PENS). The PENS task force consisted of ten members, six of whom were military-affiliated, and four of whom were not.

**2005 - The PENS Task Force Report and Subsequent APA Revisions**

In June of 2005 the PENS Task Force published a report that examined if the APA Ethics Code adequately addressed psychologists’ involvement in national security issues. The report generally found that psychologists serving in consultant roles to interrogations were still acting in accordance to the APA Code of Ethics. However, the statements included in this report often contradicted each other. For example, the report first stated that psychologists would not engage in torture nor provide support in such activities. Additionally, the report notes that psychologists have an ethical duty to report acts of torture. However, within the same report, the task force acknowledges that psychologists may provide support in interrogations. Additionally, the task force notes that psychologists can serve as consultants to interrogations as long as they adhere to the Ethics Code. Notably, the report also acknowledged several ambiguous areas of discussion, such as whether to follow international or United States law in respect to human rights. While the report concluded that the APA Ethics Code did indeed address the majority of ethical dilemmas surrounding national security, they noted that more work could be done to clarify ethical practices.

Once the report was published, it was adopted as policy within the APA. Critics of the report argue that it was ratified by the APA with unusual haste, and that it was specifically written to fit into the existing government agenda by redefining torture. Additionally, critics noted that the report often contradicted itself and did not provide clear parameters for psychologists to ethically operate. However, this PENS Task Force Report became the guiding ethical doctrine and approval needed for psychologists to keep operating in interrogation settings.

**Further Reading:**

1. Risen, J. (2014). *Pay any price : Greed, power, and endless war.* Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
2. Handelsman, M. M. (2017). A Teachable Ethics Scandal. *Teaching of Psychology*, *44*(3), 278–284. https://doi.org/10.1177/0098628317712789
3. Chaleff, I. (2015). Intelligent Disobedience: Doing Right When What You're Told to Do Is Wrong. United States: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
4. Soldz, S. (2011). Fighting Torture and Psychologist Complicity. *Peace Review*, *23*(1), 12–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/10402659.2011.548240
5. Gómez, J. M., Smith, C. P., Gobin, R. L., Tang, S. S., & Freyd, J. J. (2016). Collusion, torture, and inequality: Understanding the actions of the American Psychological Association as institutional betrayal. *Journal of Trauma & Dissociation*, *17*(5), 527–544. https://doi.org/10.1080/15299732.2016.1214436
6. Altman, N. (2008). The Psychodynamics of Torture. *Psychoanalytic Dialogues*, *18*(5), 658–670. https://doi.org/10.1080/10481880802297681

1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 Hoffman, D. H., Carter, D. J., Lopez, C. R. V., Benziller, H. L., Guo, A. X., Latifi, S. Y., Craig, D. C. (July 2, 2015). *Report to the Special Committee of the board of directors of the American Psychological Association: Independent review relating to APA ethics guidelines, national security interrogations, and torture.* Chicago, IL: Sidley Austin LLP. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/independent-review/APA-FINAL-Report-7.2.15.pdf
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Elkins, D.N. (2015). The American Psychological Association and the Hoffman Report. *Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 56*(2), 99-109. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022167815619064
3. ↑ Bohannon, J. (2015, April 23). *APA hit with new torture allegations.* Science. https://www.science.org/content/article/apa-hit-new-torture-allegations
4. ↑ Risen, J. (2015, July 10). Outside psychologists shielded U.S. torture program, report finds. *The New York Times*. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/11/us/psychologists-shielded-us-torture-program-report-finds.html
5. ↑ Ackerman, S. (2015, July 14). *Three senior officials lose their jobs at APA after US torture scandal.* The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/14/apa-senior-officials-torture-report-cia.
6. ↑ American Psychological Association. (2017). *Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct* (2002, amended effective June 1, 2010, and January 1, 2017). https://www.apa.org/ethics/code/.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 BBC (2014, December 10). *CIA tactics: What is 'enhanced interrogation'?* BBC.https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-11723189
8. ↑ Human Rights First. (2016). "*Enhanced Interrogation" explained.* [Fact Sheet]. https://www.humanrightsfirst.org/sites/default/files/Enhanced-Interrogation-Fact-Sheet.pdf
9. ↑ CNN. (2004, April 30). *Iraq prison abuse sparks 'outrage.'* CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/04/30/iraq.photos.reaction/index.html
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Lewis, N. (2004, November 30). Red Cross finds detainee abuse in Guantánamo. *New York Times.*
https://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/30/politics/red-cross-finds-detainee-abuse-in-guantanamo.html
11. ↑ Risen, J. (2015, April 30). American Psychological Association bolstered C.I.A. torture program, report says. *New York Times.* https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/01/us/report-says-american-psychological-association-collaborated-on-torture-justification.html
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6 Presidential Task Force on Psychological Ethics and National Security. (2005). *Report of the APA Presidential Task Force on Psychological Ethics and National Security: On psychological ethics and national security.* American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/pubs/reports/pens.pdf.
13. ↑ American Psychological Association. (2005). *Report of the APA Presidential Task Force on psychological ethics and national security* [Press release]. https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2005/07/pens
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Olsen, B., Soldz, S., & Davis, M. (2008). The ethics of interrogation and the American Psychological Association: A critique of policy and process. *Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine, 3*(3), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1186/1747-5341-3-3.
15. ↑ Stockton, N. (2015, July 27). *Torture is bad. So psychologists helped the US redefine it.* Wired. https://www.wired.com/2015/07/torture-bad-psychologists-helped-us-redefine/.