April 23, 2009
Op-Ed Contributor for the New York Times
My Tortured Decision
By ALI SOUFAN
FOR seven years I have remained silent about the false claims magnifying the effectiveness of the so-called enhanced interrogation techniques like waterboarding. I have spoken only in closed government hearings, as these matters were classified. But the release last week of four Justice Department memos on interrogations allows me to shed light on the story, and on some of the lessons to be learned.
One of the most striking parts of the memos is the false premises on which they are based. The first, dated August 2002, grants authorization to use harsh interrogation techniques on a high-ranking terrorist, Abu Zubaydah, on the grounds that previous methods hadn’t been working. The next three memos cite the successes of those methods as a justification for their continued use.
It is inaccurate, however, to say that Abu Zubaydah had been uncooperative. Along with another F.B.I. agent, and with several C.I.A. officers present, I questioned him from March to June 2002, before the harsh techniques were introduced later in August. Under traditional interrogation methods, he provided us with important actionable intelligence.
We discovered, for example, that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. Abu Zubaydah also told us about Jose Padilla, the so-called dirty bomber. This experience fit what I had found throughout my counterterrorism career: traditional interrogation techniques are successful in identifying operatives, uncovering plots and saving lives.
There was no actionable intelligence gained from using enhanced interrogation techniques on Abu Zubaydah that wasn’t, or couldn’t have been, gained from regular tactics. In addition, I saw that using these alternative methods on other terrorists backfired on more than a few occasions — all of which are still classified. The short sightedness behind the use of these techniques ignored the unreliability of the methods, the nature of the threat, the mentality and modus operandi of the terrorists, and due process.
Defenders of these techniques have claimed that they got Abu Zubaydah to give up information leading to the capture of Ramzi bin al-Shibh, a top aide to Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, and Mr. Padilla. This is false. The information that led to Mr. Shibh’s capture came primarily from a different terrorist operative who was interviewed using traditional methods. As for Mr. Padilla, the dates just don’t add up: the harsh techniques were approved in the memo of August 2002, Mr. Padilla had been arrested that May.
One of the worst consequences of the use of these harsh techniques was that it reintroduced the so-called Chinese wall between the C.I.A. and F.B.I., similar to the communications obstacles that prevented us from working together to stop the 9/11 attacks. Because the bureau would not employ these problematic techniques, our agents who knew the most about the terrorists could have no part in the investigation. An F.B.I. colleague of mine who knew more about Khalid Shaikh Mohammed than anyone in the government was not allowed to speak to him.
It was the right decision to release these memos, as we need the truth to come out. This should not be a partisan matter, because it is in our national security interest to regain our position as the world’s foremost defenders of human rights. Just as important, releasing these memos enables us to begin the tricky process of finally bringing these terrorists to justice.
The debate after the release of these memos has centered on whether C.I.A. officials should be prosecuted for their role in harsh interrogation techniques. That would be a mistake. Almost all the agency officials I worked with on these issues were good people who felt as I did about the use of enhanced techniques: it is un-American, ineffective and harmful to our national security.
Fortunately for me, after I objected to the enhanced techniques, the message came through from Pat D’Amuro, an F.B.I. assistant director, that “we don’t do that,” and I was pulled out of the interrogations by the F.B.I. director, Robert Mueller (this was documented in the report released last year by the Justice Department’s inspector general).
My C.I.A. colleagues who balked at the techniques, on the other hand, were instructed to continue. (It’s worth noting that when reading between the lines of the newly released memos, it seems clear that it was contractors, not C.I.A. officers, who requested the use of these techniques.)
As we move forward, it’s important to not allow the torture issue to harm the reputation, and thus the effectiveness, of the C.I.A. The agency is essential to our national security. We must ensure that the mistakes behind the use of these techniques are never repeated. We’re making a good start: President Obama has limited interrogation techniques to the guidelines set in the Army Field Manual, and Leon Panetta, the C.I.A. director, says he has banned the use of contractors and secret overseas prisons for terrorism suspects (the so-called black sites). Just as important, we need to ensure that no new mistakes are made in the process of moving forward — a real danger right now.
Ali Soufan was an F.B.I. supervisory special agent from 1997 to 2005.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
Seven Simple Self-Care Structures from Sandy Davis
About Simple Self-Care Structures
If you want to increase your resilience-readiness, the best thing you can do is to take great care of your mind, your body, and your spirit. Below are seven proven structures you can use to tune up your own self-care. Each is readily accessible, affordable, portable, and highly effective. All you have to do to take on one or more them, and then hold yourself accountable to abide by your chosen structures every single day. They work. You just have to execute them with commitment and unrelenting consistency.
Three Foundational Daily Self-Care Habits
1. Make it a habit to Keep All Your Agreements. Don’t make any agreements you don’t fully intend to keep, and keep the ones you do make. If you break an agreement, clean up the mess you have created quickly and completely. Point of Accountability: Track whether you are keeping your agreements to do your chosen daily self-care practices in an accountability log.
2. Make it a habit to Eat Well. Choose nutritious foods. Avoid junk food. Discipline yourself to maintain sensible control over the size of your portions. Eat what you like, and enjoy what you eat—but in modest quantities. Point of Accountability: Weigh yourself every day and log your weight. Whether you eat poorly or wisely, your average body weight will reflect your eating habits.
3. Make it a habit to Sleep Well. Make sure that you regularly get the measure of sound sleep you need to in order to sustain your energy and go full speed ahead all day long. Point of Accountability: Log how much sleep you get each night.
Plus Three Daily Self-Care Practices
4. Daily Centering Practice: Every day, spend at least 15 minutes doing a centering practice that enables you to come back to your senses, to slow down, and to attain a point of physical, mental, and emotional stillness. Think of this practice as nourishment primarily for your mind. Point of Accountability: Keep track of how many minutes you spend doing your daily centering practice, and log those minutes in your daily accountability log.
5. Regular Aerobic Exercise: Spend at least 15 minutes every day (or 30 minutes every other day) doing vigorous aerobic exercise. (Exercise becomes aerobic when you first exert yourself hard enough and long enough to get your heart beating up in your “aerobic zone,” and then sustain that level of effort for as long as you wish.) Think of this practice as nourishment primarily for your body. Point of Accountability: Keep track of how many minutes you exercise aerobically, and log those minutes in your daily accountability log.
6. Daily Creative Practice: Spend at least 15 minutes every day (or 30 minutes every other day) doing a creative practice. That’s an activity that normally falls outside the realm of your work, and that connects you in some enjoyable way to your deepest passions. It reliably tantalizes you to create something new for yourself. Think of this practice as nourishment primarily for your spirit. Point of Accountability: Keep track of how many minutes you spend doing your daily creative practice, and log those minutes in your daily accountability log.
And One Daily Meta-Structure
7. A meta-structure is one that sits “above” your other structures and serves to pull them all together. The meta-structure that holds all of the above habits and daily practices together is Keeping a Daily Accountability Log. When you do this faithfully and honestly, you will have nowhere to hide. You will be in a position to bear witness to the unvarnished results you are creating for yourself. Consequently, you will be able to make insightful course corrections. When you sustain all of the above self-care activities AND log them every day, you will open a door to personal transformation that most individuals never find, much less walk through. That is where the real fun begins. Point of Accountability: Be sure to make all the daily entries in your log that you committed to making.
Pulling the Seven Self-Care Structures All Together
When you start to take your own self-care seriously and start to methodically pay yourself first, you can start to increase your resilience-readiness both quickly and sustainably. You can begin to develop a deep-seated confidence that you will have whatever you need in order to successfully meet whatever challenges come your way, whether they be small or big. This makes life ever so much more enjoyable and peaceful.
The rest is up to you. Self-care is, by definition, a gift that only you can give to yourself. Optimal self-care does require you to continuously invest a relatively small amount of your time, attention, and energy in your own well-being. Over time, the payoff on this small daily investment can be spectacular. It’s one of those gifts that keeps on giving.
So when you’re ready, go for it. Just remember: One simple change in your daily self-care practices has the power to change everything—even your destiny. On the other hand, without deliberate, ongoing practice, nothing changes. You get to choose.
______________________________________________________
Copyright © 2009 Alexander M. (Sandy) Davis. To find out more about Sandy Davis and the resilience-related products and services he offers, visit http://www.ResilienceWorks.com. To subscribe to his free monthly e-newsletter, send an e-mail to Subscribe@ResilienceWorks.com. To reach Sandy directly, send an e-mail to Sandy@ResilenceWorks.com. FYI, he’s “The Resilience Guy.”
If you want to increase your resilience-readiness, the best thing you can do is to take great care of your mind, your body, and your spirit. Below are seven proven structures you can use to tune up your own self-care. Each is readily accessible, affordable, portable, and highly effective. All you have to do to take on one or more them, and then hold yourself accountable to abide by your chosen structures every single day. They work. You just have to execute them with commitment and unrelenting consistency.
Three Foundational Daily Self-Care Habits
1. Make it a habit to Keep All Your Agreements. Don’t make any agreements you don’t fully intend to keep, and keep the ones you do make. If you break an agreement, clean up the mess you have created quickly and completely. Point of Accountability: Track whether you are keeping your agreements to do your chosen daily self-care practices in an accountability log.
2. Make it a habit to Eat Well. Choose nutritious foods. Avoid junk food. Discipline yourself to maintain sensible control over the size of your portions. Eat what you like, and enjoy what you eat—but in modest quantities. Point of Accountability: Weigh yourself every day and log your weight. Whether you eat poorly or wisely, your average body weight will reflect your eating habits.
3. Make it a habit to Sleep Well. Make sure that you regularly get the measure of sound sleep you need to in order to sustain your energy and go full speed ahead all day long. Point of Accountability: Log how much sleep you get each night.
Plus Three Daily Self-Care Practices
4. Daily Centering Practice: Every day, spend at least 15 minutes doing a centering practice that enables you to come back to your senses, to slow down, and to attain a point of physical, mental, and emotional stillness. Think of this practice as nourishment primarily for your mind. Point of Accountability: Keep track of how many minutes you spend doing your daily centering practice, and log those minutes in your daily accountability log.
5. Regular Aerobic Exercise: Spend at least 15 minutes every day (or 30 minutes every other day) doing vigorous aerobic exercise. (Exercise becomes aerobic when you first exert yourself hard enough and long enough to get your heart beating up in your “aerobic zone,” and then sustain that level of effort for as long as you wish.) Think of this practice as nourishment primarily for your body. Point of Accountability: Keep track of how many minutes you exercise aerobically, and log those minutes in your daily accountability log.
6. Daily Creative Practice: Spend at least 15 minutes every day (or 30 minutes every other day) doing a creative practice. That’s an activity that normally falls outside the realm of your work, and that connects you in some enjoyable way to your deepest passions. It reliably tantalizes you to create something new for yourself. Think of this practice as nourishment primarily for your spirit. Point of Accountability: Keep track of how many minutes you spend doing your daily creative practice, and log those minutes in your daily accountability log.
And One Daily Meta-Structure
7. A meta-structure is one that sits “above” your other structures and serves to pull them all together. The meta-structure that holds all of the above habits and daily practices together is Keeping a Daily Accountability Log. When you do this faithfully and honestly, you will have nowhere to hide. You will be in a position to bear witness to the unvarnished results you are creating for yourself. Consequently, you will be able to make insightful course corrections. When you sustain all of the above self-care activities AND log them every day, you will open a door to personal transformation that most individuals never find, much less walk through. That is where the real fun begins. Point of Accountability: Be sure to make all the daily entries in your log that you committed to making.
Pulling the Seven Self-Care Structures All Together
When you start to take your own self-care seriously and start to methodically pay yourself first, you can start to increase your resilience-readiness both quickly and sustainably. You can begin to develop a deep-seated confidence that you will have whatever you need in order to successfully meet whatever challenges come your way, whether they be small or big. This makes life ever so much more enjoyable and peaceful.
The rest is up to you. Self-care is, by definition, a gift that only you can give to yourself. Optimal self-care does require you to continuously invest a relatively small amount of your time, attention, and energy in your own well-being. Over time, the payoff on this small daily investment can be spectacular. It’s one of those gifts that keeps on giving.
So when you’re ready, go for it. Just remember: One simple change in your daily self-care practices has the power to change everything—even your destiny. On the other hand, without deliberate, ongoing practice, nothing changes. You get to choose.
______________________________________________________
Copyright © 2009 Alexander M. (Sandy) Davis. To find out more about Sandy Davis and the resilience-related products and services he offers, visit http://www.ResilienceWorks.com. To subscribe to his free monthly e-newsletter, send an e-mail to Subscribe@ResilienceWorks.com. To reach Sandy directly, send an e-mail to Sandy@ResilenceWorks.com. FYI, he’s “The Resilience Guy.”
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Nine ways to get happy in the next thirty minutes
Check out the following article at "Shine" on Yahoo.
Nine ways to get happy in the next thirty minutes
In the next half hour, tackle as many of the following suggestions as possible. Not only will these tasks themselves increase your happiness, but the mere fact that you've achieved some concrete goals will boost your mood.
1. Raise your activity level to pump up your energy. If you're on the phone, stand up and pace. Walk to a coworker's office instead of sending an e-mail. Put more energy into your voice. Take a brisk 10-minute walk. Even better...
2. Take a walk outside. Research suggests that light stimulates brain chemicals that improve mood. For an extra boost, get your sunlight first thing in the morning. Find the best walking workout for your exercise style.
3. Reach out. Send an e-mail to a friend you haven't seen in a while, or reach out to someone new. Having close bonds with other people is one of the most important keys to happiness. When you act in a friendly way, not only will others feel more friendly toward you, but you'll also strengthen your feelings of friendliness for other people.
4. Rid yourself of a nagging task. Deal with that insurance problem, purchase something you need, or make that long-postponed appointment with the dentist. Crossing an irksome chore off your to-do list will give you a rush of elation.
5. Create a more serene environment. Outer order contributes to inner peace, so spend some time organizing bills and tackling the piles in the kitchen. A large stack of little tasks can feel overwhelming, but often just a few minutes of work can make a sizable dent. Set the timer for 10 minutes and see what you can do. In that time, take a quick look around the house and see how to get organized using everyday items.
6. Do a good deed. Introduce two people by e-mail, take a minute to pass along useful information, or deliver some gratifying praise. In fact, you can also...
7. Save someone's life. Sign up to be an organ donor, and remember to tell your family about your decision. Do good, feel good―it really works!
8. Act happy. Fake it 'til you feel it. Research shows that even an artificially induced smile boosts your mood. And if you're smiling, other people will perceive you as being friendlier and more approachable. There's no need to walk around in a constant state of worry. After all, what's the worst that can happen if you bounce a check or leave wet clothes in the dryer?
9. Learn something new. Think of a subject that you wish you knew more about and spend 15 minutes on the Internet reading about it, or go to a bookstore and buy a book about it. But be honest! Pick a topic that really interests you, not something you think you "should" or "need to" learn about.
Nine ways to get happy in the next thirty minutes
In the next half hour, tackle as many of the following suggestions as possible. Not only will these tasks themselves increase your happiness, but the mere fact that you've achieved some concrete goals will boost your mood.
1. Raise your activity level to pump up your energy. If you're on the phone, stand up and pace. Walk to a coworker's office instead of sending an e-mail. Put more energy into your voice. Take a brisk 10-minute walk. Even better...
2. Take a walk outside. Research suggests that light stimulates brain chemicals that improve mood. For an extra boost, get your sunlight first thing in the morning. Find the best walking workout for your exercise style.
3. Reach out. Send an e-mail to a friend you haven't seen in a while, or reach out to someone new. Having close bonds with other people is one of the most important keys to happiness. When you act in a friendly way, not only will others feel more friendly toward you, but you'll also strengthen your feelings of friendliness for other people.
4. Rid yourself of a nagging task. Deal with that insurance problem, purchase something you need, or make that long-postponed appointment with the dentist. Crossing an irksome chore off your to-do list will give you a rush of elation.
5. Create a more serene environment. Outer order contributes to inner peace, so spend some time organizing bills and tackling the piles in the kitchen. A large stack of little tasks can feel overwhelming, but often just a few minutes of work can make a sizable dent. Set the timer for 10 minutes and see what you can do. In that time, take a quick look around the house and see how to get organized using everyday items.
6. Do a good deed. Introduce two people by e-mail, take a minute to pass along useful information, or deliver some gratifying praise. In fact, you can also...
7. Save someone's life. Sign up to be an organ donor, and remember to tell your family about your decision. Do good, feel good―it really works!
8. Act happy. Fake it 'til you feel it. Research shows that even an artificially induced smile boosts your mood. And if you're smiling, other people will perceive you as being friendlier and more approachable. There's no need to walk around in a constant state of worry. After all, what's the worst that can happen if you bounce a check or leave wet clothes in the dryer?
9. Learn something new. Think of a subject that you wish you knew more about and spend 15 minutes on the Internet reading about it, or go to a bookstore and buy a book about it. But be honest! Pick a topic that really interests you, not something you think you "should" or "need to" learn about.
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