In August, the Council of Representatives of the American Psychological Association (APA) voted 157-1 to ban psychologists from participating in national security interrogations for military or intelligence entities. The move comes after years of work by a small group of psychologists who exposed the APA’s role in legitimizing the U.S. government’s use of torture in the war on terror.
For nearly a decade, the APA denied claims made by the group. But last year — after James Risen of The New York Times published Pay Any Price: Greed, Power and Endless War, which documented the APA’s collusion in torture — the organization commissioned an independent review to examine the accusations.
The analysis confirmed the APA’s secret collaboration with the Department of Defense (DOD) and CIA on “enhanced interrogation” programs, including waterboarding, sleep deprivation and other extreme tactics, during George W. Bush’s presidency. In late July, the APA apologized for the ...
