The Policy Consequences of the U.S. Decision to Use Torture as an Instrument of War

The Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government has launched a two-year research project to examine the short- and long-term impacts of the decision by the U.S. government to use torture during the period from 2002 to 2009. “The Policy Consequences of the U.S. Decision to Use Torture as an Instrument of War” project will be co-lead by Douglas A. Johnson, faculty director of the Carr Center and former CVT executive director, and Alberto Mora, a Harvard Advanced Leadership Fellow and former general counsel of the U.S. Navy.

According to the Carr Center, the research team “will gather data, from both proponents and opponents of the policy, for analysis in a variety of ways: through a review of relevant available data, reports and first-hand accounts; through information gathered via personal interviews with high-level U.S. government and military officials; through interviews and research of the reactions of foreign governments, especially America’s allies; and through engagement of other institutional research partners.”

Information collected by the research team will be cross-referenced and examined “to precisely identity and quantify specific tactical and strategic consequences of the U.S. government's decision to use torture as an instrument of war during the period of 2002-09.”

The Carr Center indicated the findings will be subsequently released to lawmakers, military leaders, and the general public in the form of a final report, tentatively scheduled for 2017.