Post WWII, Scharff emigrated to the US and worked as an interrogation instructor with the USAF, due to the respect US Army Air Force aircrew exposed to him had for Scharff during the war when Scharff interrogated them.
In the last decade plus of conflict, within military circles, Scharff’s book has been consistently brought up whenever the topic has covered things like waterboarding and enhanced interrogation techniques.
Scharff’s book is excellent and plays to our natural human need for compassionate and empathetic human connection.
It’s worth mentioning that while Scharff’s techniques have been proven to be very effective and useful for long-term interrogation there is still a place for “shock of capture” tactical questioning.
By that I mean in the period immediately following the capture of an enemy combatant there is an opportunity to apply psychological pressure(fear of implied threats, etc) and attempt to extract useful information without violence(they are now captured so the duty of care for them is on their captors), before they transition into longer-term incarceration and professional interrogation.
In the last decade plus of conflict, within military circles, Scharff’s book has been consistently brought up whenever the topic has covered things like waterboarding and enhanced interrogation techniques.
Scharff’s book is excellent and plays to our natural human need for compassionate and empathetic human connection.
It’s worth mentioning that while Scharff’s techniques have been proven to be very effective and useful for long-term interrogation there is still a place for “shock of capture” tactical questioning.
By that I mean in the period immediately following the capture of an enemy combatant there is an opportunity to apply psychological pressure(fear of implied threats, etc) and attempt to extract useful information without violence(they are now captured so the duty of care for them is on their captors), before they transition into longer-term incarceration and professional interrogation.