The Law of Unintended Consequences

Pentagon policy has resulted in an unintended trickle-down consequence:

The Pentagon has revised a directive on detainee interrogations to specifically prohibit the use of techniques developed for a pilot survival training program from Chinese torture methods, officials said Wednesday.
Critics charge that the so-called SERE techniques served as the basis for coercive interrogation practices that spread after the September 11 attacks to military detention centers in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Afghanistan and Iraq.
'Use of SERE techniques against a person in the custody or effective control of the Department of Defense or detained in a DoD facility is prohibited,' the October 9 directive on detainee interrogation says.
SERE, which stands for survival, evasion, resistance and escape, is a program developed by the US military after the Korean War to help downed pilots and other military personnel survive captivity.

A directive intended to limit the exposure of prisoners to 'torture' is now being used to limit the exposure of trainees to techniques our potential adversaries know, advocate, and teach.

By: Brant