--- title: American Psychological Association Supported CIA Torture, Report Says description: This is the first time the A.P.A. has been investigated on the interrogation program canonical: https://time.com/3841576/american-psychological-association-torture/ author: Jack Linshi article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-30T13:58:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T06:49:08.340Z article:section: Politics og:title: Report Claims American Psychological Association Supported Torture Policy og:description: First time A.P.A. investigated in relation to interrogation program og:url: https://time.com/3841576/american-psychological-association-torture/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt16d89a325925e10c/6987edb506f2c12abd338030/abu-ghraib.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: An Iraqi security officer patrols the grounds at the newly opened Baghdad Central Prison in Abu Ghraib on February 21, 2009 in Baghdad. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Report Claims American Psychological Association Supported Torture Policy twitter:description: First time A.P.A. investigated in relation to interrogation program twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt16d89a325925e10c/6987edb506f2c12abd338030/abu-ghraib.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Report Claims American Psychological Association Secretly Supported Torture Policy  by [Jack Linshi](https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Apr 30, 2015 1:58 PM UTC  An Iraqi security officer patrols the grounds at the newly opened Baghdad Central Prison in Abu Ghraib on February 21, 2009 in Baghdad. An Iraqi security officer patrols the grounds at the newly opened Baghdad Central Prison in Abu Ghraib on February 21, 2009 in Baghdad.Wathiq Khuzaie—Getty Images  by [Jack Linshi](https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/)  ## Jack Linshi Apr 30, 2015 1:58 PM UTC The American Psychological Association secretly worked with the George W. Bush administration to justify a post-9/11 torture policy, says a new report released Thursday. The [report](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/01/us/report-says-american-psychological-association-collaborated-on-torture-justification.html), written by six health professionals and human rights activists, analyzed over 600 e-mails that they claim show how the group assisted in morally and ethically justifying the Bush-era interrogation program after graphic photos surfaced in 2004 showing detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq tortured by U.S. Army personnel. “The A.P.A. secretly coordinated with officials from the [C.I.A.](http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/c/central%5Fintelligence%5Fagency/index.html?inline=nyt-org), White House and the Department of Defense to create an A.P.A. ethics policy on national security interrogations which comported with then-classified legal guidance authorizing the C.I.A. torture program,” the report concludes. A spokeswoman for the American Psychological Association denied the accusations in the report, stating that there “has never been any coordination between A.P.A. and the Bush administration on how A.P.A. responded to the controversies about the role of psychologists in the interrogations program.” The interrogation program has since been discontinued and was criticized by the extensive [Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture](http://time.com/3623625/the-senate-torture-report-when-it-comes-out/) last year. \[[_NYT_](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/01/us/report-says-american-psychological-association-collaborated-on-torture-justification.html)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3841576/american-psychological-association-torture/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3841576/american-psychological-association-torture/"},"headline":"Report Claims American Psychological Association Secretly Supported Torture Policy","datePublished":"2015-04-30T13:58:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T06:49:08.340Z","description":"This is the first time the A.P.A. has been investigated on the interrogation program","url":"https://time.com/3841576/american-psychological-association-torture/","keywords":["intelligence","torture","Mental Health/Psychology"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt16d89a325925e10c/6987edb506f2c12abd338030/abu-ghraib.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jack Linshi","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jack-linshi/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt16d89a325925e10c/6987edb506f2c12abd338030/abu-ghraib.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"An Iraqi security officer patrols the grounds at the newly opened Baghdad Central Prison in Abu Ghraib on February 21, 2009 in Baghdad.","caption":"An Iraqi security officer patrols the grounds at the newly opened Baghdad Central Prison in Abu Ghraib on February 21, 2009 in Baghdad.","creditText":"Wathiq Khuzaie—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/intelligence/","name":"intelligence"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3841576/american-psychological-association-torture/","name":"Report Claims American Psychological Association Secretly Supported Torture Policy"}}]}] ```