The High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group: History and Lessons from HIG Studies
- C. Edward
- May 20, 2024
- 5 min read
Updated: 7 days ago
The High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group (HIG)Â serves as a critical interagency effort within the U.S. government, bringing together intelligence professionals, operational interrogators, and academic researchers to advance the science and practice of interrogation. Established in 2009 under the direction of Barack Obama, the HIG was created to ensure that interrogation practices are effective, ethical, and grounded in empirical research.
Since its creation, the HIG has supported and produced well over a hundred peer-reviewed studies spanning psychology, linguistics, decision-making, and communication science. This research directly informs interrogation policy, training, and operational guidance across the intelligence community and beyond. Central to the HIG’s mission is a continuous cycle of research → training → operational feedback, ensuring that interrogation methods evolve with evidence rather than tradition.
This article explores the HIG’s origins, its science-driven approach to interrogation, and the lasting impact of its best-practice guidance—particularly the emphasis on non-coercive, rapport-based interrogation for eliciting accurate and reliable intelligence. While rooted in national security, these lessons extend to detectives, investigators, researchers, and corporate security professionals responsible for high-stakes information gathering.
HIG: A Decade of AdvancementsÂ
The Genesis of HIGÂ
The HIG emerged from a recognition that legacy and coercive interrogation practices were unreliable and often counterproductive. In the years following 9/11, the U.S. government faced an urgent demand for actionable intelligence, prompting a critical reassessment of how interrogations were conducted. Experience and research increasingly demonstrated that coercion undermined accuracy, increased resistance, and created unacceptable legal and ethical risks.
The HIG was established to replace assumption-driven interrogation with science-based methods, approaches that prioritize information quality, legality, and human dignity. From the beginning, the group showed that they had made a clear policy choice: effective interrogation must follow constitutional principles, international law, and empirical evidence.
Science Meets InterrogationÂ
The defining feature of the HIG is its integration of behavioral science into interrogation practice. By collaborating with and funding psychologists and social scientists, the HIG has fundamentally reshaped how interrogations are understood and conducted. These collaborations have led to one hundred and eighty-nine funded and published peer-reviewed studies examining memory, stress, rapport, influence, deception, and information disclosure. This research directly informs interrogation policy, training, and operational guidance, providing investigators with tools grounded in how people actually think, communicate, and make decisions under pressure.
Anatomy of Effective InterrogationÂ
Rapport: The Foundation of Non-Coercive Interrogation
At the core of HIG-endorsed interrogation practices is rapport-building. Rapport is not leniency, it is not "soft," nor is it agreement with an individual’s actions. It is the deliberate creation of a professional, respectful interaction that reduces resistance, encourages engagement, and improves information disclosure.
Research consistently shows that rapport-based interviews and interrogations lead to greater disclosure, fewer false statements, and higher-quality information. By acknowledging an individual's perspective and maintaining procedural fairness, investigators create better interview conditions where cooperation becomes more likely. In contrast, coercive interrogation techniques increase the risk of false or misleading information and undermine long-term intelligence objectives.
The Interrogator’s Toolbox
HIG interrogation relies on an adaptable, non-coercive toolbox, including:
Improved preparation and case knowledge
Active listening and improved questioning
Cognitive interviewing principles
The Strategic Use of Evidence (SUE)
Rapport-building techniques
Rather than following rigid scripts or so many step systems, investigators are trained to adapt their approach in real time. Preparation plays a critical role, allowing investigators to understand their case, test accounts, and assess credibility without confrontation or pseudoscientific lie detection tricks. The HIG's research-based approach signals a shift from confession-driven interrogation to information-driven interrogation, where information, both quality and quantity, is the primary objective.
Impact on U.S. Law Enforcement
The influence of HIG research extends well beyond national security. Domestic law enforcement agencies across the United States are increasingly adopted science-based interviewing and interrogation practices backed by HIG-supported research. These methods align closely with efforts to reduce false confessions, improve investigative outcomes, and strengthen public trust.
Modern science-based interviewing training for detectives and investigators now emphasizes rapport, better questioning, and evidence disclosure over pressure, minimization, theming, or false evidence ploys (FEP). Techniques such as Strategic Use of Evidence (SUE)Â and cognitive interviewing are recognized as best practices, particularly in serious felony investigations. This shift reflects a growing understanding that ethical interrogation is also effective interrogation.
Practical Applications and Field Success
HIG-driven advances in interrogation have produced tangible operational benefits. Investigators report improvements in the quality, quantity, and reliability of information, supporting stronger case construction and more accurate decision-making. Non-coercive interrogation techniques are especially valuable when interviewing vulnerable populations, trauma survivors, or individuals under significant stress.
Field validations studies and operational feedback consistently demonstrate that science-based interviewing and interrogation produce better information-gathering outcomes. Through continuous refinement, HIG-supported practices remain responsive to real-world law enforcement challenges while avoiding the pitfalls of outdated interrogation models.
Lessons from the FieldÂ
Incorporating Best PracticesÂ
The HIG's commitment to excellence is further exemplified by its dedication to incorporating best practices into everyday interrogation scenarios. Lessons learned from the field are continuously analyzed and transformed into practical guidelines. These practices are informed by direct experiences and research findings, ensuring that they are not only theoretically sound but also operationally effective. For instance, the emphasis on rapport-building and the avoidance of coercion are not just ethical imperatives but are also proven to yield more truthful and detailed intelligence. Best practices also include maintaining a professional demeanor, understanding cultural differences, and being aware of the psychological impact of interrogation on both the interrogator and the detainee. Training programs and operational debriefings serve as conduits for disseminating these practices, fostering a culture of constant learning and adaptation among professionals in the field.Â
Validating Interrogation Techniques in Practice
HIG-supported interview and interrogation methods are not adopted based on theory alone. Science-based interviewing and interrogation trainings have been tested in law enforcement operational settings, evaluated for reliability, and proven more effective based on outcomes. This validation process ensures that recommended interview and interrogation techniques are effective across real-life contexts, from intelligence operations to domestic law enforcement's criminal investigations.
By grounding interrogation practices in both research and field testing, the HIG minimizes investigative risk while maximizing informational value, an approach increasingly recognized as the gold standard in modern interview and interrogation practices.
The Future of Science-Based Interviewing and Interrogation
A Continuous Cycle of Research and Practice
The HIG exemplifies a model where science and practice inform one another. As threats evolve and investigative environments change, interrogation methods must adapt accordingly. Ongoing collaboration between researchers and practitioners ensures that interrogation remains ethical, lawful, and effective.
This cycle produces updated training, refined protocols, and new insights into human communication, benefiting not only intelligence professionals but also domestic law enforcement and anyone tasked with information gathering.
Ethics as a Strategic Advantage
Ethical interrogation is not a limitation, it is a benefit. A benefit for criminal justice, victims, communities, and law enforcement. The HIG’s commitment to lawful, humane interrogation strengthens information reliability, protects institutional credibility, and supports admissibility in legal proceedings. The HIG shows that effective interrogation and ethical standards go hand in hand by putting evidence-based practice (EBP) at the center of its work.
As interviewing and interrogation in the United States continues to evolve and improve, the HIG remains a leader in responsible, science-based interviewing and interrogation, setting a benchmark for better information-gathering practices within intelligence agencies, law enforcement, and investigative professionals worldwide.
Interview and Interrogation Training the Next Generation of Investigators
The principles advanced by the HIG do not remain confined to federal intelligence work, they are increasingly translated into frontline practice through, evidence-based training. Science-Based Interviewing by IXI and Project Aletheia's train-the-trainer focuses on getting better interviewing into the back of patrol vehicles and interview rooms. Agencies are equipped to replace legacy, coercive interrogation methods with science-based interviewing and interrogation grounded in ethics, rapport, and validated research. These programs emphasize building internal capacity, ensuring that evidence-based practices are not only taught once but sustained, audited, and reinforced over time, mirroring the same research-to-practice cycle that defines the HIG’s work.