1. Eric Maddox Interview
Reviewit Magazine, June 2013
Paige Moore
Confessions of a Military Interrogator
On the dusk​­lit patio of the Goose’s Acre, overlooking the Woodland’s Waterway, on the eve of
the Kiwanis Prayer Breakfast where he was scheduled as the keynote speaker, famed military
interrogator, Eric Maddox, allowed us to ask the questions. We did not discuss the upcoming
movie rendition of his book, “Mission: Blacklist,” or how he feels about being played by actor
Robert Pattinson, a.k.a “Edward,” the sultry do​gooder vampire in the ​Twilight​ series. We barely
even touched his most publicized achievement, the capture of Saddam Hussein. What Eric
Maddox really likes to talk about is getting people to talk.
“I’ve done 2700 interrogations. Some are so easy! They start talking as soon as I walk in the
door​ they want to tell me everything. With others it’s a psychological game of chess. Every
human is different.”
But what if a trained interrogator was captured, and questioned? Maddox pauses, thoughtful. “I
could avoid breaking," he speculates, "but trained interrogators know how to evaluate you, see
where you’re unguarded. We all break.”
A woman at the table laughed, imagining herself under interrogation, claiming she would break
like a plastic knife. Maddox disagreed. “Women are the worst! There’s no concern about being
arrested; they know we won’t touch them. Especially women from the Middle East and Near
Asia, they don’t talk. We don’t interrogate women.”
Good writers mold their heroes out of human beings, balancing intellect and bravery with candid
modesty. Eric Maddox makes for a very good hero. He freely admits that he was not sought out
or discovered for any hidden talents as an interrogator. After serving as an Airborne Ranger, he
re­​enlisted in the foreign language program to learn Mandarin Chinese, which he used for a post
in the Beijing Embassy.
“That was 1997​ no war on the horizon. I had to have some kind of job
title; they told me I would officially be called an “interrogator.”
Then came September 11, 2001. Suddenly the rules changed.
So did Maddox’s post.
Interrogations weren’t always easy for him. The US military wasn’t involved in tactical
interrogation prior to the attacks of 9/11, but a war without uniforms or chains of command
necessitated timely, accurate information. In 2003, Eight of the country’s most elite soldiers had
been chosen to hunt down “high value targets in Iraq,” but none were trained interrogators.

2. Maddox himself had only eight weeks of training which he’d received in 1999. His first
interrogation was conducted upon arrival in Tikrit. Within the first ten days, he evaluated his
situation: he was ill­​prepared and ineffective. Maddox said in a TEDx presentation: “I used all of
the methods and tactics that I learned in training and they just flat didn’t work.” The situations he
had trained for were designed to gain information from German Nazis, North Koreans... not
insurgents. By asking around, Maddox learned that interrogation wasn't producing results, not
anywhere. Rather than increasing force or resulting to torture, he employed simple, age​old
wisdom. He placed himself in the other’s shoes.
“Address their problems and they’ll solve all of mine.” By offering prisoners the opportunity to
return home, interrogations garnered information as sharp as a blade. As he summed in his
speech, “Four and a half months, an eight­​man team, we dissolved twenty insurgency networks
and captured the most wanted man in the world. In that time we didn’t fire a single shot.”
So began a radical change of strategy, and with it, eventually, a shift across the board away
from controversial methods of extracting information from prisoners of war. Maddox swears that
he never tortured for answers, but was he in the minority? He answers:
“In 2001, torture was all over the place. It was almost a given. I fortunately wasn’t in the mix,
away from other interrogators, but groups of interrogators were certainly using torture. From
2004​ to 2005, torture became less and less implemented, and from 2005, I’m telling you there’s
no torture.”
Curiosity regarding details about the missions Maddox has performed, past and present, was
met with polite opacity. More surprising was how light and vulnerable he became when
speaking about civilian life: a daughter who won’t eat much besides waffles smeared with
mostly jelly and a little peanut butter. A wife who suspects her husband prefers life on the field.
She might be right. He confesses, “I don’t know to how to adjust to this society. You deal with
taxes, traffic, bills... out there it’s a lot easier. You just do your job.”
Judging by his merits, Maddox has done his job very well. He’s been decorated with the Bronze
Star, the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Director’s Award and the National Intelligence Medal of
Achievement, but his greatest glory is being awarded the Legion of Merit. “That was given to me
by my team and my supervisors, people I worked side by side with. That’s why it means the
most.”
He continues to work as a civilian for the defense department but also tours the country giving
presentations on his experience. Modest, slightly camera​­shy, we asked how he’s adapted to
speaking in front of large crowds, ranked the highest of all fears. “I’ve spoken to 2700 enemies
who want to kill me. I’m not afraid of speaking to a room full of Americans.”
What scares Eric Maddox? Heights.

3. “I was an airborne ranger for goodness sake!” he says with good humor, then tells about a time
he visited the Empire State Building with his parents and was too terrified to look over the edge.
This touch of humility is what draws us to his story, and the reason he is able to see the enemy
as human as himself. In short, Eric Maddox is a hero because he is human.
For more information on the upcoming film, Mission:Blacklist, or to purchase Maddox’s book,
visit http://missionblacklist.com/d