The book details how the unsuccessful prosecution of
John Walker Lindh convinced the President to circumvent the procedural protections of criminal trials.
Enhanced interrogation techniques, adapted from the
SERE techniques intended for special forces and intelligence agents who are captured, were applied to prisoners who were held and interrogated without trial, and then released. While the SERE-based interrogation methods were developed and supervised by the
Central Intelligence Agency and military psychologists, the White House
Office of Legal Counsel set about the task of
refuting allegations of torture. The approved interrogation methods were used at
Guantanamo,
Abu Ghraib (in Iraq), and allegedly at CIA black sites. Mayer recounts in detail the regimented authorizations that were needed during the interrogation of
Khalid Sheikh Muhammad where "hundreds of different techniques" were authorized. Although
waterboarding received the most public scrutiny, a government official told Mayer it was the combination and duration of multiple techniques that increased the severity for the prisoners: "The totality is just staggering". The so-called
Torture Memos were eventually rescinded by
Jack Goldsmith, over
David Addington's objections, and were in large part reinstanted by Goldsmith's successor
Steven G. Bradbury. Mayer writes that the President decided not to pursue legislative options after the Supreme Court decision in
Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (2006) held that the Geneva Conventions did apply. According to Mayer's account the driving force behind the enhanced interrogation program was the Vice-President's office. ==Reception==