About

Mark Fallon is the author of Unjustifiable Means: The Inside Story of How the CIA, Pentagon, and U.S. Government Conspired to Torture and co-editor of Interrogation and Torture: Integrating Efficacy with Law and Morality (Oxford University Press) and Interviewing and Interrogation: A Review of Research and Practice Since World War II (TOAEP). A former Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) special agent, he retired from the U.S. Senior Executive Service after more than 30 years in federal law enforcement and national security, including leadership roles investigating the USS Cole bombing and overseeing terrorism investigations following the September 11 attacks.

Today, Fallon is Director of ClubFed, LLC, an international consultancy specializing in science-based effective interviewing, national security, and ethical leadership. He serves as a Strategic Advisor to iRecord, is a member of the Steering Committee of Experts for the Méndez Principles on Effective Interviewing, and sits on the Advisory Council of the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law. He previously chaired the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group (HIG) Research Committee and the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) IMPACT Section, and consults as an expert in the areas of interrogation and police practice.
A leading advocate for science-based, non-coercive interviewing, Fallon has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek, Just Security, SpyTalk, and other publications. He has appeared in numerous documentaries and television productions, including Leaving Hotel California, Eminent Monsters, Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror, The Interrogation Tapes, and National Geographic documentaries, and lectures internationally on interrogation, ethics, the rule of law, and national security.

He continues to write and speak on the legacy of the post-9/11 interrogation program and its relevance to current national security policy debates.
Learn more about his work at markfallon.us.

Featured Work

Unjustifiable Means: The Inside Story How the CIA, Pentagon and US Government Conspired to Torture

2017

A true insider and a veteran NCIS agent, Mark Fallon was appointed the deputy commander of the Criminal Investigation Task Force (CITF) charged with bringing suspected terrorists to justice in the War on Terror. With the opening of Guantanamo Bay and the arrival of detainees, government agencies—including the CIA, Army, and NCIS—began infighting over whose jurisdiction the investigation fell under, and what the best method was for extracting information on al-Qaeda.

Fallon has exclusive insider information on the decision to implement “Enhanced Interrogation Techniques,” and the backchannels and deception employed to legalize these methods and hide them from the public’s view. Hard-hitting, raw, and explosive, Unjustifiable Means forces the spotlight back onto how America lost its way and exposes those responsible for torturing innocent men under the guise of national security—individuals who have yet to be held accountable for their actions.

Other Works

  • Interviewing and Interrogation: A Review of Research and Practice Since World War II

    2023

  • Interrogation and Torture: Integrating Efficacy with Law and Morality

    2020