Testimony of a Former Operations Officer

This is an excerpt from a summary of an interview that took place at a conference room on 7 March 2005 at the US Army South LNO Office, SOUTHCOM Headquarters, Miami, Florida. On 29 March 2005, at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, Investigating Officer BG John Furlow declared under penalty that said summary was true and correct. The summary was released by the US Government on 15 June 2006 under a FOIA request by the ACLU, who made it public on June 19, 2006.

I was stationed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (GTMO) from February 2003 to January 2004.

During the course of the interview I was asked about what I knew about detainee abuse at Guantanamo. I was specifically asked about the following acts: Inappropriate use of military working dogs, inappropriate use of duct tape, impersonation of or interference with FBI agents, inappropriate use of loud music and/or yelling, sleep deprivation, short-shackling, inappropriate use of extreme temperatures during interrogation, and inappropriate use of sexual tension as an interrogation technique, to include lap dances and simulated menstrual fluids.

I have personal knowledge of the following:

I am not aware of any military working dogs that were used in an interrogation. We had a dog outside the pumpkin patch, the area where new detainees are held. It was outside the reception area.

I was aware of SFC [REDACTED] impersonating a Department of State representative. He was part of the special projects team and would have been approved at the JIG level, that would have to be approved.

I did witness the use of music and strobe lights in interrogations. The civilian contractor interrogators would use this technique as part of a "Fear Up" approach in April or May 2003. We told them to stop it after Abu Ghraib came out.

I am not aware of short shackling being used in an interrogation. The detainee might be left in the booth for an extended period of time after interrogations awaiting MPs. The short chain was done as a control measure. The chain was close to the floor. The detainee was chained with his wrist close to the floor. The interrogator would ask the MPs to put the detainee in that position. Where I saw that, I can't remember if a chair was in the room. As far as I know, everything was in the boundaries.

I am familiar with an incident when SSG [REDACTED] and SGT [REDACTED] used sexual contact to distract a detainee. Both were told not to use the technique again and I believe SSG [REDACTED] received a written letter of admonishment. Additionally, I am familiar with the "magic marker" incident. The detainee spat in SGT [REDACTED]'s face. She was crying outside the booth and she developed a plan to psychologically get back at him. This technique was not in any approved interrogation plan. She touched the detainee on his shoulder, showed him the red ink on her hand and said by the way, I am menstruating. The guy threw himself on the floor and started to bang his head because he was so freaked out by the ink.

I am not aware of sleep deprivation being used against detainees. Interrogators had to get approval for up to 15 hours a day. The rules General Miller set were 14 hours with five hours of uninterrupted sleep. Sleep interruption was done by the interrogators at night, was quite labor-intensive, and was not practical. It was something in the toolbox (Enclosures to the Schmidt-Furlow Report (Part 1), 846).

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