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U. alumnus removed from director position at American Psychological Association following US government torture scandal

A University alumnus was removed from his position as ethics director of the American Psychological Association last month after an independent review alleged that he collaborated with the Department of Defense to enable torture.

Stephen Behnke '82 was removed from the position in which he had served since 2000. His name appeared nearly 2,000 times in thereportabout the APA's involvement in post-9/11 national security interrogations, which was authored by Sidley Austin LLP partner David Hoffman.

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"APA wanted to foster the growth of the profession of psychology by supporting military and operational psychologists, rather than restricting their work in any way," the report read in part. "Behnke and [Army psychological operations chief Morgan] Banks closely collaborated to emphasize points that followed then-existing DoD guidance (which used high-level concepts and did not prohibit techniques such as stress positions and sleep deprivation), to suppress contrary points, and to keep the task force’s ethical statements at a very general level in order to avoid creating additional constraints on DoD."

Behnke deferred comment to his attorney, former FBI director Louis Freeh.

Behnke rejects the Hoffman report “as a gross mischaracterization of his intentions, goals, and actions,” Freeh said. “Dr. Behnke will consider all legal options in the face of this unfair, irresponsible and unfounded action by a few APA Board Members.”

Hoffman did not respond to requests for comment.

Annie Sovcik, director of the Washington, D.C., office of the Center for Victims of Torture, said the allegations levied in the Hoffman report were very serious.

“There is this false impression that governments can extract information by breaking the victims down, but really, it becomes impossible to sift through what is reliable information as the victims tell what the interrogators want to hear,” Sovcik said. “Torture is universally banned."

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After the disclosure of the Hoffman report to the APA, which had commissioned the report, the APA formed a special committee to review the allegations contained in the report and to consider reforming the organization's policies. Following a month-long deliberation process, the committee recommended a handful of structural changes and stripped a handful of senior executives of their titles, including Behnke.

Susan McDaniel, a member of the independent review's Special Committee within the APA, said the organization had no prior knowledge of instances of collusion with the U.S. government.

Nadine Kaslow, chairwoman of the APA's Special Committee, declined to be interviewed but released a statement to The Daily Princetonian that said the APA apologized for its behavior and the ensuing consequences.

Freeh, however, said Behnke was not given sufficient opportunity to respond to the report's findings. He added he believed some APA board members had targeted Behnke and made false claims.

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“Fortunately, in America it is judges and juries who decide the law, not private organizations […] fraught with conflicts of interest," Freeh said, adding Behnke may take legal action against the APA.

Despite his exit from the APA, Behnke retains his appointment as a part-time medical instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, according to Jerry Berger, communications director of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, which is a teaching hospital affiliated with Harvard Medical School.

Several Harvard administrators contacted would not confirm or deny Behnke's appointment, but Behnke remained listed in Harvard's online directory as a medical ethics instructor as of press time.

Berger added that Behnke does not teach on Harvard's main campus in Cambridge.

Jonathan Moreno, a professor of bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, said that because Behnke has not been convicted of a crime, he is protected under the principles of academic freedom and should not be deprived of any institutional titles.

Moreno noted that John Yoo, who attracted controversy in 2006 for authoring memos that advised the Bush administration it was legal to use so-called enhanced interrogation techniques like waterboarding, remained as the Emanuel S. Heller Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley, which is one of the most prestigious titles given to faculty at that school.

“If [Behnke] was in my department, he and I would go forth all the time not agreeing with each other, but I would still defend his right to be in the department,” Moreno said.

Behnke was a classics major at the University and graduated as salutatorian. He was also a member of Ivy Club and the karate team.