TORONTO -- The American Psychological Association on Friday overwhelmingly approved a ban on any involvement by psychologists in national security interrogations conducted by the U.S. government, even noncoercive interrogations that are now U.S. practice.
The council of representatives of the organization, the United States' largest professional association of psychologists, voted to impose the ban at its annual meeting in Toronto. Proponents of the ban said it was needed to restore the organization's reputation after an independent investigation ordered by the association's board.
That investigation, conducted by David Hoffman, a Chicago lawyer, found that some officers of the association and other prominent psychologists colluded with government officials during George W. Bush's administration to make sure that association policies did not prevent psychologists from involvement in the harsh interrogation programs conducted by the CIA and the Pentagon.
The ban was approved by the association's council by a vote of 156-1. Seven council members abstained, and one was recused.
"I think this was a tremendous step in the right direction," said Susan McDaniel, the association's president-elect, who was the chairman of Friday's meeting. She expressed hopes that Friday's vote would persuade psychologists who quit the organization because of its involvement with Bush-era interrogations to rejoin the group.
The ban passed Friday says "psychologists shall not conduct, supervise, be in the presence of, or otherwise assist any national security interrogations for any military or intelligence entities, including private contractors working on their behalf, nor advise on conditions of confinement insofar as these might facilitate such an interrogation."
The measure's backers added language Friday that stated that psychologists may consult with the government on broad interrogation policy but may not get involved in any specific interrogation or consult on the specific detention conditions for detainees.
Some psychologists did speak out in opposition to the ban or at least expressed reservations about it during the debate before the vote Friday morning, arguing that it went too far.
"I'm concerned about unintended consequences," said Larry James, who represents the association's division of military psychology on the council.
The ban prohibits only involvement in what the association defines as national security interrogations, which are those conducted by the U.S. military or intelligence agencies, or by contractors or foreign governments outside traditional domestic criminal law enforcement inside the United States.
It doesn't prohibit psychologists from working with the police or prisons in criminal law enforcement interrogations.
President Barack Obama signed an executive order in 2009 banning the use of the harsh interrogation techniques employed against terrorism suspects during the Bush administration. There are still some psychologists involved in the interrogation programs now used in terrorism cases by the Obama administration.
Most interrogations of important terrorism suspects now are conducted by the High Value Interrogation Group, an interagency unit led by the FBI that includes CIA and Pentagon personnel. The group also includes psychologists, who both conduct research and consult on effective means of interrogating terrorism suspects.
Psychologists played crucial roles in the post-9/11 harsh interrogation programs created by the CIA and Pentagon, and their involvement helped the Bush administration claim that the abusive interrogation techniques were legal. The involvement of psychologists in the interrogations enabled the Justice Department to issue secret legal opinions arguing that the interrogations were safe because they were being monitored by health professionals and thus did not constitute torture.
A Section on 08/08/2015