On July 7, 2004, General Counsel of the U.S. Navy Alberto Mora wrote a memo to the Inspector General of the Navy, which read: “In contrast to the civilian law enforcement personnel present at Guantanamo, who were trained in interrogation techniques and limits and had years of professional experience in such practices, the military interrogators were typically young and had little or no training or experience in interrogations. Once the initial barrier against the use of improper force had been breached, a phenomenon known as ‘force drift’ would almost certainly begin to come into play. This term describes the observed tendency among interrogators who rely on force. If some force is good, these people come to believe, then the application of more force must be better. Thus, the level of force applied against an uncooperative witness tends to escalate such that, if left unchecked, force levels, to include torture, could be reached.”
– Alberto J. Mora, Memorandum for Inspector General, Department of the Navy, The New Yorker, July 7, 2004