Ask Me No Questions, I'll Tell You No Lies: How to Survive Being Interviewed, Interrogated, Questioned, Quizzed, Sweated, Grilled...

95 Pages·1826·8.464 MB·English

by  Jack Luger

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7727
How to Survive Being
Interviewed, Interrogated,
Questioned, Quizzed,
Sweated, Grilled...
a:
Jack Luger
J = Ag
&) Loompanics Unlimited
Port Townsend, Washington
Contents
nor Thtihse pbuobolki shise rs olwdi llf orb e ihneflodr maatcicoon unputrapboslfeoesr otnhley . useN eiotrh emri suthsee aouft htohre Introduction 352P0E5 5ii 0vonc eee 1
information contained in this book, Part I: Tools And Techniques
1. People Traps........ aaa SRS RET ALTOS IO 9
2. Interrogation: The Basic Facts...............-........ 17
3. Types Of Interrogators . 2.2... .0.. 00000 c cco eeeceees 29
4. The Interrogator’s Mind-Set ..........2..... 00000000. 37
5. Techniques Of Applying “Pressure” ,..,........0..40. 49
6. Deceptive Tactics During Interrogation. ..............59
ASK ME NO QUESTIONS, LL TELL YOU NO LIES: How 7. The Covert Interrogation ....00.2..00.0 0ec0 c0ece. e es 69
Stow eSautrevdi,v e GrBielliendg. ..I nterviewed, Interrogated, Questioned, Quizzed, 8. Torture,..,.... SALBaa lERUITER YESY a E SS 75
© 1991 by Jack Luger 9. The Polygraph ...... 0.0... ccc ccc cece eeu penececceves 83
Printed in USA
Part Il: Special Applications
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or stored 10. Prisoners OF War-azinonine aeeeee 97
in any form whatsoever without the prior written consent of the Il, Pre-Employment Interviews .............00..sc0000- 107
cpoubnlsiesnhte r.o f tRhee vipeuwbsli shmera y as qluoontge as brpirefo pepra sscraegdeist isw igtihvoeun.t the written 12, Media Interviews ....... a sielald KeAiietieene URAC 123
13. Depositions And Court Testimony ..,............... 129
Published by: Part Ill: Resistance
Loompanics Unlimited 14. Coping With Interrogations ........000000.00.000005 139
PO Box 1197
Port Townsend, WA 98368 15. The Language Of Lies..00..00.. e. ce.ce .cc.cee.e es 159
Loompunics Unlimited is a Division of Loompanics Enterprises, Inc, HOSES isis sinuses nesuoimnegneteeReaces 163
For Further Reading ............0.0000.00000 c0e, .. 169
Cover design by Patrick Michael
IN EK oc maiscescoceremmripeteisieisieriiaanuaaeners BPN 173
ISBN 1-55950-072-7
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 91-061943
Introduction 1

Introduction

Life appears to be getting more complicated, and we have to
cope with more pressure than our parents did. One of the types
of pressure we face is the need to prevent or defend ourselves
against people invading our privacy. In some cases, we have to
answer questions from an interviewer or interrogator.
Many people face interrogation in one form or another during
their lives, Sometimes it’s during a criminal investigation. More
ofien, an interrogation comes in a non-criminal setting, such as
when applying for employment, or during a media interview.
There are techniques of obtaining information from willing
and unwilling subjects, practiced each day by both skilled and
unskilled interviewers, This book explains and lays out
2 ASK ME NO QUESTIONS
Introduction 3
techniques of resistance, to help you avoid giving information or an off-the-cuff statement can be construed as an admission of
to conceal information while appearing to be cooperative. guilt, and people will later recall it and interpret it in the light
In some cases, such as during a police investigation in the of your presumed guilt.
United States, you do not have to answer questions, because Yet another reason is that many interrogators develop a
pyoolui'cree iunnvdeesrt igtahteo rsp rohtaevcet ionm etohf odtshe oUf. S.i ndCuocnisntgi tustuisopne.c tsH owteo vetarl,k , cwyhneinc al faacnedd dwiistthr usat futlr utmhifunld -ssetto,r y,f eetlhieyn'gl l thbaet eseveekriynbgo dgya psl iesa. ndE veinn-
dteescphintieq ueCso,n stwihtiucthi onias l whpyr otweec'tlilo n.e xaYmoiun e netehde set o ink ndoetwa il.a bout such consistencies, There are also investigators who feel pressured to
find a likely suspect, and are willing to shade the truth in their
In other situations, such as an employment interview, you're eagerness to please the people paying their salaries. When facing
not under Constitutional protection, During employment in- one of these, it’s almost a no-win situation.
dtoeersvni’etw s,h avyeo u tod onhi’rte hyaovue. Itno aprnascwteirca l quteesrtmiso,n s,t hatb’ust ctoheer ceiomnp.l oyer crimPienoapllse, wIth’os nonte eda chreilmpe int o reaspipsltiyn g foir nteemrprolgoaytmieonn t,m osIttl’sy alasroe nnoott
Your goal is to present a good picture of yourself, and conceal a crime to be employed in a workplace where drug abuse or
any derogatory information. If, for example, you once commit- thefts take place. There are also people caught in circumstances
ted a crime and paid for your mistake in prison, there’s no real they didn't create.
fnwoeoren d'yt o utroe arenrr ervoeyrao lu forta hniytsh e ptoor iesntat s,op fr aoynsodpu erc ytoiluivf ee. doenm’tp lonyeeerd. toY okuere p hpoanyeisntgy mayT hen ot wikfen owof aa nyretahli nogr asbuosupte ctheisd acdteifveicttieosr, obru t spwyi,l l focro meex amupnldee,r
intensive investigation. The relative of a criminal may also face
There are many reasons why the average person needs to suspicion. Friends, fellow employees, or associates of people sus-
defend himself. Perhaps the most important one is that the pected of crimes also come under a cloud, and need a survival
interrogator or interviewer is likely to be a pro, with much kit to help them cope.
experience in his craft. He interviews people eight hours a day,
forty hours a week, while most people face interviewers only Certain political or social organizations often come under
occasionally, That gives the pro the edge. police or FBI investigation. These are the ones to which police
assign labels such as “extremist.” The currently fashionable term
Another reason is that interrogation and interviewing is “terrorist,” applied to everyone from right-wing groups to
techniques have become very refined, and the average person environmentalists. An organization’s actual actions are almost
needs 2 survival kit to protect himself. Techniques can be very unimportant, because the stigma comes with the cause.
subtle, designed to catch subjects off guard,
dSirutnoratgitAeantetr gmer edot ngsitamustoec orsh r, s f imrnyootomumeus re ev niumtencaswwoyei v dle,lcr iatnnn o gtW eil'eneslatvuldeeb rnjre tecoo txgksaasn.tem oiriwionoL neues st t thiahpnttoogr wo bycyloaoeupiu'mtnrrsut e.re regv ubSiaeoedirmwndaeeg mrt sai dgmioientwasnenn,grd- epaIpnanml rdopt Sytlihoeoeeemms y .eae etyrtni h demO,fe nmie,siem i,s tp tc ltaooiukmsynreipd nnmiealpdvnypl i ryydi ouvcuaaototlb nwee c nitlnehfugairt odns uev nedtnsdh aote ntirdthegh i aahnttim gomias r stnseha weelagnrfseeto o ru gsswmh fuaie.sssrs srpueiestancIp gnte ,sceo ttduoc tc aa ksne edvwst esh hehrte oyhonrafbgtt ou adieglytemhthi,.-yes
4 ASK ME NO QUESTIONS Introduction §
“shortage” had been a clerical error by the boss himself. admission when an investigator knocks at his door, Admitting
However, this employee spent a couple of uncomfortable days guilt won't bring the dead child back to life, and will probably
under suspicion, harm the driver's family if he goes to prison, This is why we can
make a good argument for resisting interrogation in criminal
Another example is the employee whose firm hires under-
cases.
cover investigators to pose as employees to ferret out employee
theft or drug abuse. To the undercover operative, everyone is a Society benefits from putting career criminals away for a long
potential suspect, and genuinely innocent employees will come time. On the other hand, there’s no benefit from ruthlessly
under his scrutiny. If you’re in such a situation, you'll find out imprisoning someone who is merely an accidental or situational
how uncomfortable it can be. offender. This can only ruin @ career, lie up a prison cell and
taxpayers’ dollars that could see better use, and deprive the
It’s also possible to come under investigation for activities that
government of the taxes the person would be paying if em-
are perfectly legal, such as labor union participation. Although
ployed,
the National Labor Relations Act forbids employers to
investigate or punish employees for union activity, there's American police officers are better than those in many
actually very tax enforcement of this prohibition. In real life, em- countries, but they can still make mistakes, Although American
ployers hire private investigators to work undercover and check officers do not willingly “frame” an innocent person just to get
up on employces’ union activities. an arrest and clear a case, they can commit errors of judgment.
In some cases, the evidence is ambiguous, and it’s easy to draw
Totally innocent people who lack self-confidence, and exhibit
the wrong conclusion. The Wylie-Hoffert murder case in New
behavior that investigators interpret as deceptive, can be falsely
York, during the early 1960s, resulted in the police arresting the
suspected or accused. If you, for example, have trouble
wrong man, at first, because they were under intense pressure
maintaining cye contact with the interrogator, you're in serious
to solve the case.
trouble, no matter how innocent you may be, If you answer in
a hesitant manner, this can also provoke suspicion, to an One question you might ask is whether this book will do
interrogator trained in the linguistic school of thought, This is more harm than good by falling into the wrong hands. The
answer is, obviously, “no.” The reason is that criminals already
why average people need special training in conducting them-
have this information. They know how to fool their interro-
selves credibly during interviews and interrogations.
gators, because they're street-smart and prison-hardened, In
Often, average people do fall under criminal investigation for prison, which is really a crime university, they've taken the post-
unintentional infractions. One simple and common example is graduate course from more experienced offenders. In any event,
the drunk driver who runs over and kills a child. The police many street criminals can’t read. Organized crime figures also
certainly will question him, if they know who he is, If not, they are adept at resisting interrogation. They have very clever
may have a list of likely suspects, and will work at narrowing attorneys, who practice deception every day, and coach their
that list. clients in the techniques.
The remorseful driver may be so overcome with guilt that he We will cover physical torture briefly, because torture does
runs to the police to confess, or may break down into a tearful take place in the United States, at times. We're not going to
6 ASK ME NO QUESTIONS
cover special situations, such as arrest by a foreign secret police,
because most of you won't have to face such prospects, Nor will
you have to endure drug interviews at the hands of CIA
psychiatrists. The real hazards to average people come from
average situations, such as employment and mistaken identity.
Part I:
This book won't provide any magic formulas for beating
interrogations. There are none, There are also no foolproof ways
Tools And
of extracting the truth from an unwilling or uncooperative
subject. If you want to train yourself to resist interrogation, you'll
have to work at it. You'll need to understand how different types Techniques
of interrogations and interviews work, and memorize various
tactics and countermoves, You'll have to rehearse some of your

answers, and practice being interviewed. You'll have to practice
before a mirror, to see yourself the way others see you.
This isn’t back-breaking work, but you'll need to be serious
about it. Some of it will be fun, as you see your skill improve.
Most of all, the final results will be worth the effort.
People Traps 9
1
People Traps

There are several types of life situations that are traps, and
people become caught in them for reasons not of their making.
Some of these traps lead to interviews or interrogations.
Let’s begin this study by laying out exactly what we mean by
the word “trap.” Obviously, a career criminal who burglarizes
a house should not be very surprised if he’s caught and
questioned, On the other hand, someone riding in a vehicle with
another person who gets stopped for a narcotics violation may
be surprised, especially if he has nothing to do with the offense.
It’s guilt by association, one type of people trap, and falling
victim to one of these traps is often merely bad luck.
There are different types. Let's look at a few hypothetical and
real-life cases.
10 ASK ME NO QUESTIONS
People Traps 11
people exploit their friends and acquaintances by asking them
Mistaken Identity
to carry illegal drugs and other contraband, If someone asks you
to carry a package, especially aboard an aircraft or across a
It’s possible to be caught up in innocent ways. In a city with border, you should refuse unless you can see what’s inside the
many people, it’s almost inevitable that some people will package. However, if you trust that person, you might unwit-
resemble each other. A crime witness may provide police with tingly end up ferrying contraband for him or her. This could
a description that fits a dozen people, and if the description fits happen even on a short trip across town, because some drug
you, police will probably stop and question you. dealers use innocent friends to convey contraband past sur-
veillance.
If you happen to be stopped while innocently carrying contra-
Police Entrapment
band, you may suffer confiscation of your vehicle, if it’s in a state
where the law provides for confiscation of any vehicle involved
Police also conduct “undercover” and “pro-active” operations in drug trafficking. Police officers will almost certainly not
which sometimes roll up innocent people in the net. Some police accept any statement that you did not know what you were
officers go to cocktail lounges and other clubs to seek out carrying. It’s virtually certain that they'll interrogate you, but
narcotics violators. Youthful appearing undercover officers your answers may not help clear you.
attend schools, enrolling as students. Undercover officers will
even sell narcotics to arrest the buyers, according to U.S. District
Physical Coercion
Judge Charles Hardy.’ This borders on entrapment, but it
happens because police are willing to skirt the edge of the law.
The problem with this sort of police work is that it tends to American police officers generally don't use physical violence
catch the little fish, the naive occasional or first offender, but not against those they question, as the era of the “third degree” is
the hardened criminal who is street-smart and knows how to long gone. However, police in some foreign countries do so as
protect himself. If you, as a law-abiding citizen, attend a party a matter of course, These foreign countries are not necessarily
during which someone brings illegal drugs, you may find Iron Curtain countries, or “Third World” tyrannies. In Mexico,
yourself arrested as if you were the one who had instigated the for example, it appears to be routine. The Sonoran Bar Associ-
affair. This can happen even without using drugs. Being there is ation placed advertisements in Sonoran newspapers, on October
enough, 27, 1989, accusing police of torturing confessions from suspects
to make them admit crimes of which they were innocent.?
Surprisingly, the commander of the Sonoran Federal Judicial
Carrying A Package
Police defended his officers by stating that they did not beat
suspects in “bad faith.”
Some people are asked by friends or acquaintances to carry An American arrested by Mexican police officers may expect
packages for them. This is usually an innocent request, but some the officers to read him his “rights,” but “Miranda,” although a
12 ASK ME NO QUESTIONS
People Traps 13
Hispanic name, does not apply South of the border. “Rights,” to find out if she had helped her husband in his espionage. There
as we understand them, do not exist. In many countries, in fact, was some thought given to prosecuting her, but as they had no
it's an offense merely to refuse to answer a police officer's real evidence, they abandoned that idea.
i In some, physical coercion, including severe torture,
is legal. At this point, Howard's wife had not actually broken the law.
As Howard was not under arrest, he could not, by definition,
be a fugitive. The FBI did, however, take advantage of her
Emotional Isolation extreme emotional vulnerability to manipulate her. They
brought in a sympathetic female agent to befriend her, and to
help her cope with life without her husband. Mary, with a small
When Edward Lee Howard, a former Central Intelligence son to raise, soon was Cooperating, and went so far as to agree
Agency employee, defected to the Soviet Union, his wife Mary to a polygraph examination.
had to face questioning from the Federal Bureau of Investiga-
tion} Although there’s no evidence to suggest that Mary, herself The FBI appeared to have milked her dry. She gave them
a former CIA employee, had defected or passed any information information they could not have obtained any other way, such
to the Soviets, she had driven the car when her husband had as the existence of a numbered Swiss bank account. She also re-
eluded FBI surveillance and escaped. vealed the location of a metal box containing about ten thousand
dollars that Howard had buried in the desert, and went with
On September 21, 1985, Howard prepared to ditch FBI sur- agents who dug down and removed it. When they opened the
veillance by having his wife drive him on a circuitous course, box, they saw it contained bars of silver and assorted currency,
so that he could jump out of the car immediately after rounding including some South African Krugerrands.
a curve. He'd prepared a dummy to place in the seat, so that
pursuers seeing its silhouette would not become immediately This case is noteworthy because it shows how a single person
aware that he'd escaped. Although his house was under watch, can be made to feel isolated and vulnerable against the power
of the state, and broken to the police's will, without physical
the FBI agent on duty somehow missed their departure, and for
several hours, Howard and his wife were out of sight of the FBI. torture or even severe threats. Although no detailed account of
the interrogation sessions with Mary Howard are available, the
He arranged for his wife to play a tape recording of his voice main point is clear; the FBI had nothing against her, other than
on the telephone, to deceive listeners that he was still home. It that she was a defector’s wife, From that thin beginning, they
wasn’t until the following evening that Howard’s employer extracted information from her by persistent and skillful
notified the FBI that Howard had left him a letter of resignation. interrogation, manipulating her emotions when she was most
The net result was that the FBI did not know that Mary had vulnerable.
helped her husband escape. Although they may have suspected Another case was that of Mike Rivera, wrongly convicted of
her help, for all they knew he had dropped out of a rear window a rape/murder in Philadelphia. According to an authoritative
and scurried down a gully, the same way John Dillinger had account of the case, police intimidated the main witness, as well
eluded them at Little Bohemia, Wisconsin, over half a century as beat a confession out of the suspect.t The Rivera Case shows
before. FBI agents did, however, question her. They wer e eager that, indeed, it “can happen here."