Watching Zero Dark Thirty with the CIA: Fact vs.

Fiction
Kathryn Bigelows latest film, Zero Dark Thirty, has sparked controversy for its portrayal of the CIAs enhanced interrogation program in the hunt for Osama bin Laden. To separate fact from fiction, American Enterprise Institute Fellow Marc Thiessen recently hosted a panel of three CIA veterans involved in what has been hailed as the greatest manhunt in history. history

FICTION: The movie accurately depicts enhanced interrogation techniques the CIA employed.

FICTION: Waterboarding was a technique frequently used under the CIAs interrogation program. FACT: There are more journalists who have subjected
themselves to waterboarding than detainees the CIA waterboarded. Of the more than 100,000 people captured in the war on terror, only about 100 were placed in CIA custody; only one-third underwent any enhanced techniques, and just three detainees underwent waterboarding. In the movie, Abu Faraj al-Libi is waterboarded. In reality, al-Libi was never subjected to waterboarding. However, tens of thousands of American servicemen have been.

FACT: CIA interrogations were guided by strict protocols

and monitored by medical personnel. No one was tortured. Despite the impressions created by the movie, interrogators did not ad-lib waterboardings; on the contrary, written approval from superiors was always required in advance. Restrictions were placed on the procedure, such as time limits for how long water could be pouredKhalid Sheikh Mohammed figured them out and mocked his interrogators using his fingers to count off the seconds.

FICTION: The CIA used enhanced interrogation techniques to gain intelligence from detainees. FACT: Enhanced interrogation techniques were almost
never used to elicit intelligence; they were used to take a detainee from a state of resistance to a state of cooperation.To gauge whether the detainee had made the decision to cooperate, the CIA posed questions it could already answer. Once cooperation was established, interrogation stopped and never resumed, and the detainee moved into debriefing, through which the agency was able to extract valuable intelligence.

FICTION: One CIA operative (Maya, in the movie) was singlehandedly responsible for locating Osama bin Laden. FACT: Locating Osama bin Laden was a collaborative effort made possible by what former director of the CIA Michael Hayden describes as a band of sisters. Mayas tenacity represents this heroic group of womens efforts to find him. Hayden and his colleagues were disappointed by the movies portrayal of Jennifer Matthews (played by Jennifer Ehle), the CIA agent who died in a suicide attack in Khost.

FICTION: The CIA gifted a Lamborghini to a Kuwaiti informant in exchange for intelligence. FACT: Per Jose Rodriguez, former director of the National
Clandestine Service: I dont ever remember approving the purchase of an Italian sports car to give to anybody.

FICTION: Intelligence from CIA detainees played no important role in tracking down Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad. FACT: Intelligence gleaned from the interrogation program was key in locating bin Laden. The identity of bin Ladens most trusted courier, which led the CIA to bin Laden himself, was discovered during this process. For example, CIA officials intercepted messages from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to other detainees telling them to say nothing about the courieralerting them to his significance. This and other detainee information allowed the CIA to focus its efforts on finding the courier.

To learn more, visit www.aei.org/policy/foreign-and-defense-policy/