James Mitchell Character Analysis in Talking to Strangers

James Mitchell is a psychologist who worked for the U.S. Air Force’s SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) program prior to being recruited by the CIA to interrogate KSM. Mitchell and Bruce Jessen’s use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” (EITs) to elicit responses from KSM led to KSM’s first public confession to terrorism-related crimes in 2007. However, the traumatic manner in which Mitchell and Jessen compelled KSM to confess led some officials to doubt the veracity of KSM’s statements.

James Mitchell Character Timeline in Talking to Strangers

The timeline below shows where the character James Mitchell appears in Talking to Strangers. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

1. James Mitchell recalls the first time he saw the captive Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, or KSM, a senior... (full context)

When the CIA recruited Mitchell and Jessen to interrogate KSM, they employed highly controversial techniques called “enhanced interrogation techniques,” or... (full context)

2. Prior to their involvement with the CIA, Mitchell and Jessen worked as psychologists for the Air Force’s SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) program,... (full context)

Mitchell was in charge of designing the SERE program and sometimes had to participate in training... (full context)

3. The training exercises Mitchell and Jessen designed for SERE formed the basis of the CIA’s “Enhanced Interrogation” program. Asked... (full context)

In their interrogations, Mitchell and Jessen strive for compliance—for detainees to volunteer information of their own volition. KSM was... (full context)

...detainees shared under stressful circumstances could be misleading and downright deceptive. When Morgan heard about Mitchell and Jessen’s methods, therefore, he was understandably concerned. (full context)

...each Al Qaeda operation in which he’d been involved. The confession was a victory for Mitchell and Jessen. Yet, the question remained: just how much of KSM’s confession was actually true?... (full context)