Mark Fallon

Mark Fallon
Mark Fallon
Nationality	USA
Occupation	Counter-terrorism expert
Known for	objecting to the use of torture in interrogation

Mark Fallon is a counter-terrorism expert from the United States.[1][2] He was the director of the Criminal Investigative Task Force at the US Military's Guantanamo detention camp, for two and half years, where his organization conducted a parallel and independent series interrogations and intelligence analysis from that conducted by Joint Task Force Guantanamo, the CIA and the FBI.

Fallon tried to use his influence to prevent torture from being employed at Guantanamo.[3] According to Ben Taub, writing in the New Yorker magazine, by August 2002 "Fallon’s élite interagency criminal-investigation task force had been sidelined."[4]

Following his time in Government service Fallon became a vocal critic of the US Intelligence Establishment's counter-terrorism efforts.[1][5][6]

On 2008 Fallon joined The Soufan Group, a security firm founded by Ali Soufan, a former FBI counter-terrorism expert who also became a critic of the narrative common from members of the US Intelligence Establishment.[2]

In 2017 Fallon published "Unjustifiable Means: The Inside Story of How the CIA, Pentagon, and US Government Conspired to Torture."[7] Department of Defense spokesman Darrell Walker disputed claims the Government was trying to suppress publication of his book.[8] Rather, he said, the Government imposed delays were due to his book requiring review from ten different Government agencies.

The American Civil Liberties Union mounted a defense of Fallon's First Amendment right to free speech, and contacted several members of Congress.[8]

References

Klaus Marre (2016-10-05). "Guantanamo Bay's (other) dirty secret". Who What Why. Retrieved 2016-10-15.
"Mark Fallon Joins The Soufan Group". Soufan Group. 2008-02-23. Retrieved 2016-10-15.
Ben Taub (2019-04-20). "How the War on Terror Is Being Written". New Yorker magazine. Retrieved 2019-10-05. In his role as the deputy commander of the detention camp’s Criminal Investigation Task Force, Fallon had spent the previous months trying to prevent the military from adopting abusive interrogation practices.
Ben Taub (2019-04-15). "Guantánamo's Darkest Secret". New Yorker magazine. Retrieved 2019-10-05. By the time Salahi arrived at Guantánamo, on August 5, 2002, Fallon’s élite interagency criminal-investigation task force had been sidelined, and Lehnert had been replaced.
Mark Fallon (2014-12-08). "Dick Cheney Was Lying About Torture". Politico. Retrieved 2016-10-15. The self-defeating stupidity of torture might come as news to Americans who’ve heard again and again from Cheney and other political leaders that torture “worked.” Professional interrogators, however, couldn’t be less surprised. We know that legal, rapport-building interrogation techniques are the best way to obtain intelligence, and that torture tends to solicit unreliable information that sets back investigations.
"New Guantanamo Intelligence Upends Old 'Worst of the Worst' Myths". Military.com. 2016-10-07. Retrieved 2016-10-15. 'It was clear early on that the intelligence was grossly wrong,' said Mark Fallon, a retired 30-year federal officer who between 2002 and 2004 was Special Agent in Charge of the Department of Defense's Criminal Investigation Task Force. Most 'weren't battlefield captives,' he said, calling many 'bounty babies' -- men captured by Afghan warlords or Pakistani security forces and sent to Guantanamo 'on the sketchiest bit of intelligence with nothing to corroborate.'
Matthew Braun (2019-10-04). "A A Book On The Enhanced Interrogation Program That Tortures The Truth". The Federalist. Retrieved 2019-10-05. Mark Fallon’s first book is Unjustifiable Means: The Inside Story of How the CIA, Pentagon, and US Government Conspired to Torture.
Jonathan Landay (2017-08-03). "An ex-Gitmo employee says the Pentagon is suppressing his book on 'torture'". Business Insider. Retrieved 2019-10-05. Darrell Walker, chief of the Defense Office of Prepublication and Security Review, denied blocking Fallon's book. The delay, he said, is the result of 10 federal agencies having to scrub the manuscript. Two have yet to complete their assessments, including one outside the Defense Department, which he did not identify.

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[WhoWhatWhy2016-10-05-1] Klaus Marre (2016-10-05). "Guantanamo Bay's (other) dirty secret". Who What Why. Retrieved 2016-10-15.

[SoufanFallon2008-02-23-2] "Mark Fallon Joins The Soufan Group". Soufan Group. 2008-02-23. Retrieved 2016-10-15.

[newyorker2019-04-20-3] Ben Taub (2019-04-20). "How the War on Terror Is Being Written". New Yorker magazine. Retrieved 2019-10-05. In his role as the deputy commander of the detention camp’s Criminal Investigation Task Force, Fallon had spent the previous months trying to prevent the military from adopting abusive interrogation practices.

[newyorker2019-04-15-4] Ben Taub (2019-04-15). "Guantánamo's Darkest Secret". New Yorker magazine. Retrieved 2019-10-05. By the time Salahi arrived at Guantánamo, on August 5, 2002, Fallon’s élite interagency criminal-investigation task force had been sidelined, and Lehnert had been replaced.

[Politico2014-12-08-5] Mark Fallon (2014-12-08). "Dick Cheney Was Lying About Torture". Politico. Retrieved 2016-10-15. The self-defeating stupidity of torture might come as news to Americans who’ve heard again and again from Cheney and other political leaders that torture “worked.” Professional interrogators, however, couldn’t be less surprised. We know that legal, rapport-building interrogation techniques are the best way to obtain intelligence, and that torture tends to solicit unreliable information that sets back investigations.

[Military2016-10-07-6] "New Guantanamo Intelligence Upends Old 'Worst of the Worst' Myths". Military.com. 2016-10-07. Retrieved 2016-10-15. 'It was clear early on that the intelligence was grossly wrong,' said Mark Fallon, a retired 30-year federal officer who between 2002 and 2004 was Special Agent in Charge of the Department of Defense's Criminal Investigation Task Force. Most 'weren't battlefield captives,' he said, calling many 'bounty babies' -- men captured by Afghan warlords or Pakistani security forces and sent to Guantanamo 'on the sketchiest bit of intelligence with nothing to corroborate.'

[thefederalist2019-10-04-7] Matthew Braun (2019-10-04). "A A Book On The Enhanced Interrogation Program That Tortures The Truth". The Federalist. Retrieved 2019-10-05. Mark Fallon’s first book is Unjustifiable Means: The Inside Story of How the CIA, Pentagon, and US Government Conspired to Torture.

[businessinsider2017-08-03-8] Jonathan Landay (2017-08-03). "An ex-Gitmo employee says the Pentagon is suppressing his book on 'torture'". Business Insider. Retrieved 2019-10-05. Darrell Walker, chief of the Defense Office of Prepublication and Security Review, denied blocking Fallon's book. The delay, he said, is the result of 10 federal agencies having to scrub the manuscript. Two have yet to complete their assessments, including one outside the Defense Department, which he did not identify.