World on Fire

The Vital—and Ethical—Role of Behavioral Scientists in National Security Operations

Kleinman, Steven M.

¹Director of Strategic Research, The Soufan Group, New York, NY

Steven M. Kleinman, 395 Del Monte Center Suite 350, Monterey, CA 93940[email protected]

Steven M. Kleinman is a career intelligence officer with extensive experience in human intelligence, strategic interrogation, and special operations. He served as an interrogator in three major military campaigns and is a global advisor on interrogation research. Mr. Kleinman is the Director of Strategic Research at The Soufan Group

Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology 18(4):p 405-407, November 2012. | DOI: 10.1037/a0030324

In the article, “Psychology Under Fire: Adversarial Operational Psychology and Psychological Ethics” (), the authors seek to demonstrate how the unique challenges of the national security operational environment are inherently inconsistent with the ethical framework that governs the profession of psychology. This commentary argues that these ethical standards need not be abridged in supporting legal and appropriate operations. That argument is set forth primarily by challenging their fundamental premises as set forth in the cited cases studies and by providing alternative perspectives on those very case studies.