In the early days of MKULTRA, while the Central Intelligence Agency scrambled to defend against the alleged “brainwashing” programs of foreign countries, and to create its own, Agency staff responsible for the program responded to a report describing reported Soviet brainwashing efforts. In a letter formerly classified SECRET, CIA staff dismissed the Soviet techniques as “police tactics which would not be condoned in a democratic country.” The tactics described in the report not only mimic tactics which have been used in Guantanamo Bay and in CIA black sites, proved to be a source of inspiration for some post-9/11 interrogation programs.

While it is generally believed the Obama administration outlawed torture by executive order in January 2009, the ban was not total. According to the UN committee that reports on country compliance with the UN treaty, the U.S. Army Field Manual on interrogation uses techniques that constitute “ill-treatment” and raise concerns about the use of torture.