James Elmer Mitchell

Work as a CIA contractor on interrogation practices

After the September 11 attacks, Mitchell was asked by the CIA to develop an interrogation program based on what were believed to be al-Qaeda documents on resisting interrogation. Mitchell and Jessen recommended use of SERE counter-interrogation training, reverse-engineered to obtain intelligence from captives. Mitchell was later reported to have personally waterboarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

In 2005, Mitchell and Bruce Jessen formed a company called Mitchell Jessen and Associates, with offices in Spokane and Virginia and five additional associates, four of them from military SERE programs. By 2007, the company employed around 60 people, including former CIA interrogator Deuce Martinez; Karen Gardner, a former senior training official at the FBI Academy, and Roger Aldrich.

In April 2009, the CIA canceled the contract with Mitchell and Jessen's company, after having paid $81 million out of the authorized $180 million. The CIA Inspector General concluded that there was no scientific reason to believe that the program Mitchell designed was medically safe or would produce reliable information. The CIA agreed as part of the contract to provide legal costs for Mitchell and Jessen of at least $5 million if necessary.

Mitchell's identity in the interview program was made public by Vanity Fair in 2007 and further analyzed by The New York Times in 2009. In a 2014 interview with The Guardian, Mitchell defended the program and his role, but said that his ability to defend himself was curtailed as he could not speak on specifics due to a signed non-disclosure agreement with the government. In the 2016 book Enhanced Interrogation (written with co-author Bill Harlow), Mitchell provides more details and background information on the interrogation program.

Senate Intelligence Committee Study of the CIA's Detention and Interrogation Program

On December 9, 2014, the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released a report confirming the use of torture and SERE tactics in interrogations. The contractors that developed the "enhanced interrogation techniques" received US$81 million for their services, out of a contract with a potential value in excess of US$180 million. NBC News identified the contractors, who were referred to in the report via pseudonyms, as Mitchell, Jessen & Associates from Spokane, Washington, a company run by two psychologists, John "Bruce" Jessen and James Mitchell. Jessen had been a senior psychologist at the Defense Department where he taught special forces how to resist and endure torture. The Intelligence Committee report states that the contractor "developed the list of enhanced interrogation techniques and personally conducted interrogations of some of the CIA's most significant detainees using those techniques. The contractors also evaluated whether the detainees' psychological state allowed for continued use of the techniques, even for some detainees they themselves were interrogating or had interrogated." Mitchell, Jessen & Associates developed a "menu" of 20 enhanced techniques including waterboarding, sleep deprivation and stress positions. The CIA acting general counsel, described in his book Company Man, that the enhanced techniques were "sadistic and terrifying."

The report said Mitchell "had reviewed research on learned helplessness, in which individuals might become passive and depressed in response to adverse or uncontrollable events. He theorized that inducing such a state could encourage a detainee to cooperate and provide information."

When contacted about his role in the controversial program in the aftermath of its publishing, Mitchell confirmed that he signed a non-disclosure agreement with the government which prevented his confirming or denying his involvement. "[E]veryone is assuming it is me, but I can't confirm or deny it. It is frustrating because you can't defend yourself."

Testimony at Guantanamo Military Commissions

For years there was press speculation over whether the Presiding Officer would or would not allow Defense Counsel to call Mitchell or Jessen as witnesses at Guantanamo Military Commission. Mitchell was finally called upon to testify in January, 2020. During his testimony Mitchell portrayed himself as less radical than CIA officials, like Charlie Wise, then the CIA's director of interrogations.

Ethics complaint in Texas

In 2010, psychologist Jim L. H. Cox filed a formal ethics complaint against Mitchell in Texas, where Mitchell was a licensed psychologist, alleging that he had violated the profession's rules of practice by helping the CIA develop "enhanced interrogation techniques." Although Mitchell was not a member, the American Psychological Association sent a letter to the Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists stating that the actions alleged by the complainant to have been committed by Dr. Mitchell were "patently unethical," and that longstanding APA policy strictly prohibited psychologists from being involved "in any form of torture or other types of cruel, degrading or inhuman treatment or punishment." The APA justified its intervention by stating that "the allegations put forward in the complaint and those that are on the public record about Dr. Mitchell are simply so serious, and if true, such a gross violation of his professional ethics, that we felt it necessary to act." When asked about the allegations, Dr. Mitchell called the complaint libelous and "riddled throughout with fabricated details, lies, distortions and inaccuracies."

The Board dismissed the complaint against Dr. Mitchell on February 10, 2011, saying there wasn't enough evidence to prove Dr. Mitchell violated its rules.

Lawsuit

In 2014, The New York Times editorial board called for the investigation and prosecution of Mitchell and Jessen for their role in developing the torture practices used by the CIA. In 2015, Human Rights Watch called for the prosecution of Jessen "for [his] alleged direct participation in torture, often applied in ways beyond how it was authorized, but also for [his] role in the initial conspiracy to torture as well."

On October 13, 2015, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen on behalf of Mohamed Ahmed Ben Soud, Suleiman Abdullah Salim, and the estate of Gul Rahman, three former detainees who were subjected to the interrogation methods they designed. The suit alleges that the defendants' conduct constituted torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment; non-consensual human experimentation; and war crimes—"all of which are violations of 'specific, universal, and obligatory' international law norms, as evidenced by numerous binding international treaties, declarations, and other international law instruments." A trial was set for June 2017. On July 28, 2017, U.S. District Judge Justin Lowe Quackenbush denied both parties' motions for summary judgment, noted that the defendants are indemnified by the United States government, and encouraged the attorneys to reach a settlement before trial. The lawsuit settled in August 2017.

Personal life

Mitchell, who is retired and lives in Land o' Lakes, Florida, spends his free time kayaking, rafting and climbing. He describes himself as an atheist and a supporter of Amnesty International.

Depiction in media

Mitchell was portrayed in the 2019 film The Report by Douglas Hodge.

Books

• Enhanced Interrogation: Inside the Minds and Motives of the Islamic Terrorists Trying To Destroy America , James E Mitchell, Bill Harlow (2016). ISBN 978-1101906842