SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. – Two psychologists who helped design the Central Intelligence Agency's interrogation program -- one who lives in South Spokane County -- are now facing a lawsuit from three former prisoners.
James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen's company was paid $81 million by the CIA to help run the interrogation program, officials said. Senate report documents said Mitchell and Jessen designed the program to help the CIA defeat the training al Qaeda members had to resist interrogations.
Mitchell and Jessen are both former survival trainers at Fairchild Air Force Base, and afterwards opened a private contracting business called Mitchell Jessen & Associates.
The lawsuit was filed in Spokane County by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of three men, one of whom died while in CIA custody, in federal court on Tuesday. The lawsuit uses a rare statue allowing non U-S citizens to sue in America for human rights violations.
The psychologists used to train survival techniques at at Fairchild Airforce Base. Court documents state the lawsuit was filed here in Spokane, because Jessen still lives in this area, and their company was based here.
A 500-page executive summary of the Senate Intelligence Committee report that came out in 2014 was the basis of the lawsuit filed by the ACLU, officials said. It alleges that Mitchell and Jensen violated human rights by committing torture, war crimes, and cruel and inhumane punishment. The 2015 suit states that the two developed a program reliant on beatings, starvation, sleep deprivation, waterboarding, and other harsh methods that cause physical and psychological suffering.
According to the suit, Mitchell and Jessen profited from the work, each receiving more than a million dollars tax free. The company itself was paid $81 million total to implement and assist the CIA with interrogation of prisoners.
The CIA said the techniques of the past were a mistake but stood by their effectiveness, saying they provided key information about the workings of al Qaeda.
Federal court documents stated that the CIA has used a flawed approach in the past when it comes to interrogating terrorist suspects. Specifically, those tactics were used at two Afghanistan prison facilities, called Cobalt and Salt Pit.
Documents stated that Jessen participated in the interrogations of one prison in Afghanistan. The documents state that Jessen determined the suspect was resistant after initial questioning, and needed further torture to become compliant. That man was subjected to 48 hours of sleep deprivation, dragged naked over concrete floors and left in nearly freezing conditions after being beaten. Documents state that prisoner died one day later.
Officials with the ACLU said Mitchell and Jessen touted their program as safe and scientifically based, but said in reality it was unlawful and barbaric.
Senate Democrats said the program produced only bad information from detainees who were desperate to stop their torture.
In interviews, Mitchell defended his conduct and dismissed the report when it came out. In an interview with the New York Times Mitchell said he only reluctantly agreed to participate in the CIA program.
Jessen has not spoken publicly about his alleged role. When KREM 2 News reached out to him in 2014, he refused to comment.
Officials said the CIA will be required to pay for their defense.
