Quote Originally Posted by VinceC
Sleep deprivation results in hallucinations, waking dreams, incoherency, psychosis and paranoia. It is useful in getting people to sign political statements that they are enemies of the state. It is not useful in getting reliable, timely information. It has been used in Soviet Gulags, Latin American dictatorships and Chinese prisons, nearly always in connection with breaking the will of political prisoners. Using this technique, the name and location you get might end up being Peter Pan, third star from left and sail on til morning.
Quote Originally Posted by Uboat509
...This is a strawman argument. If this technique is taken to the extreme then yes that can happen but since we are not in the business of getting people to sign "political statements" it wouldn't really serve much purpose to carry it to that extreme would it? It would be far more benificial to simply make him tired and miserable. Provide information and the misery abates. It is simply the carrot and the stick.
First off, lets all be clear that the situation is a hard, committed source who is not about to break for an untrained, inexperienced or barely-capable interrogator.

What you two are getting at from two directions are the differences I mentioned earlier regarding sleep deprivation vs sleep disruption. As LawVol stated in one of his posts, clear definitions are important.

Sleep deprivation means not permitting the source any sleep at all. Period. In order to keep the source awake it is necessary to continually monitor the source and to intervene at any moment he appears to be nodding off. This can be done by using shifts of interrogators to maintain an intensive interrogation virtually non-stop, with the source's breaks taken standing, under guard. This is manpower intensive. The easier method is to mix interrogation sessions with stress positions, white noise and temperature extremes to maintain a level of discomfort enough to prevent the source from sleeping. The end result is what Vince described. You may get something of limited value, but it will be garbled, unreliable and effective follow-up with the source will be impossible.

Sleep disruption is more along the lines of what SFC W is describing - making the source tired and miserable. There are two ways of using this method. The first is very basic: The first 48 to 72 hours that the source is in custody, he isn't interrogated; but his sleep is continually interrupted for "administrative" reasons. Of course, he is processed into the detention facility as normal, what I am referring to is waking him to move him to a different cell, conducting the screening interview in parts, etc. etc. During this period, he should be under continual observation by the interrogator(s), who will learn a great deal about the source through his reactions - and should be able to effectively exploit the source following this period.

The other variation on this theme is reserved for certain truly difficult sources. Using this method, the interrogator (or team) maintains the same schedule as their source - its important to have the same individual(s) dealing with the source throughout. Interrogation sessions take place at irregular intervals, morning, noon, and night. The source gets some sleep - but no regular schedule is permitted. Of course, this is hard on the interrogators - because as they get tired as well, it becomes more difficult to effectively apply the kinesic and cognitive skills necessary to fully exploit the source. This is a true battle of the wills, and can only be implemented successfully by highly experienced and capable interrogators.

As I stated before, a clear line has to be drawn between sleep deprivation and sleep disruption. And, even though sleep disruption can be a useful technique, it is but one in the interrogator's tool box and can not be used effectively with all sources. In any case, no TTP substitutes for the interrogator's kinesic and cognitive skills - they may augment those skills, but in the end it is the kinesic and cognitive skills that enable the interrogator to break the source.

Of course, not mentioned, but absolutely critical, is effective intelligence support to interrogation. You need intel to get intel. Nothing happens in a vacuum.