Laurence J. Alison

ORBIT (Observing Rapport Based Interpersonal Techniques) is an approach to interviewing high-value detainees, encompassing not only analysis and research into the methodology, but also a framework for training. ORBIT: The Science of Rapport-Based Interviewing for Law Enforcement, Security, and Military offers comprehensive treatment of ORBIT's unique perspective on human rapport and the role it plays in the interrogation of difficult subjects, including suspects, detainees, and high value targets. Alison and colleagues provide an overview of ORBIT, which was developed from analysis of nearly 2000 hours of recorded interrogations. They go on to define rapport, explaining how and why it works by reference to this corpus of data--by far the largest of its kind in the world. ORBIT reveals what this data shows: that rapport-based methods work, and that coercion, persuasion, and threats do not. Outlining the development of their own unique stance on rapport and its influences, the authors demonstrate, through real-life examples and careful analysis, why harsh methods must be rejected and why compassion and understanding work.

Conflict: How Soldiers Make Impossible Decisions is about making hard choices--where all outcomes are potentially negative. The authors draw on interviews conducted with soldiers about the situations they faced and the decisions they made at war. These are vivid and sometimes distressing stories. They form the data from which the authors explore the cognitive processes associated with choice, commitment to action and (sometimes) error, as well as goal directed thinking, innovation and courage. By referring to real cases, Conflict invites readers to consider their own responses under extreme circumstances and ask themselves how they would choose between difficult options. In doing so this book will go some way to helping readers understand what it feels like when choosing between least-worst decisions.