The Report—An Exposé for Us All
Enhanced Interrogation Techniques (EIT)—is the focus of The Report, a provocative Amazon political thriller. A Senate staff researcher, Daniel Jones (Adam Driver) is assigned by Sen. Diane Feinstein (Annette Bening) to investigate detainees held by the CIA in “black sites”. A shameful chapter of American history unfolds , where torture was re-introduced as a legitimate tool in pursuit of national security.
The Report employs flashbacks of “enhanced interrogation techniques” that are frightening and harrowing. Flashing back to 2001 immediately after 9/11, the anxiety and deep fear of another terrorist attack incites George Tenet to ramp up the Counterterrorist Center at the encouragement of President George W. Bush. Tenet hires two psychologists, Bruce Jessen and James Mitchell, to design torture methods without calling it torture. The CIA’s intention is to elicit information to capture possible terrorists. Although both men are psychologists, their educational background, professional training and experience have nothing to do with military interrogation. Not surprisingly, little useful information was collected.
Nonetheless, the CIA was impressed with the “menu” of twenty enhanced techniques including waterboarding, sleep deprivation, “stress positions,” stuffing prisoners into small boxes, and slamming them into walls.
After political maneuvers, attempts at cover-up and threats of countersuits by the CIA, the Senate intelligence committee releases part of its report in 2015,. As expected, the Department of Justice tried to table the report. This time portions of the more comprehensive investigation, totaling 6 million pages, become public. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the chairwoman, concludes that “under any common meaning of the term, CIA detainees were tortured.”
Adam Driver and Annette Bening, under the direction of Scott Z. Burns (“The Bourne Identity”), deliver truly outstanding performances with gripping pacing rivaling the best action thrillers.
Note: John Rizzo, CIA acting general counsel at the time of Jones’ report, described in his book Company Man, that the techniques were “sadistic and terrifying.”
On October 13, 2015 the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against James Mitchell and Bruce Jensen with regard to the EIT methods they designed, claiming their conduct constituted torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment and war crimes. A settlement was reached before trial in August 2017.
None of the major government officials were ever indicted and the subcontracting psychologists who earned $81 million for EIT development and consulting were indemnified by the US government. Some reviews have considered The Report polemical and politically one-sided, but transcripts of the investigation available online speak for themselves.