WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. military has been under close scrutiny ever since waterboarding was discovered among interrogation techniques at the U.S.-run Interrogation Facility Guantanamo Bay. The ethically questionable technique was used to elicit information from prisoners with terrorist ties and became a hot topic in 2009 when the practice was made known to the public.

Now, three years later, interrogators have discovered a new technique involving the use of the electronic organizing software eMERG. Interrogators set the stage by telling prisoners that key documents, such as release papers, are located within the software, and if they can simply locate the documents they are free to go. The software is so intricately convoluted that prisoners will spend hours, days, or months searching for the crucial information. Eventually, the prisoners are so frustrated and emotionally drained that they will give up any vital information they may be harboring.

One prisoner recounts his experience: “Initially, I thought, ‘Great!’ This is going to be a piece of cake. I’ll simply search for it in the search box. But the search brought back 106 results, none of which had my papers. After that I resorted to organizing the information by every means possible – basic view, type, binder tab, site, date – but again I hit a wall. At that point I just broke into tears.” Another prisoner recounted that “after trying for days, I just had nothing left. Honestly, I think I prefer the good ole days of waterboarding.”

Lawsuits have been filed by a number of prisoners and even a few military personnel that are disturbed by administering the technique. Sgt. Brader, who has used it on a number of occasions stated, “It works every time for sure, everybody breaks down eventually. I just don’t feel right about it. I can’t sleep at night. I don’t think anyone should be subjected to this kind of torture.” The case will come before the Supreme Court later this year to decide if the eMERG technique is considered a “cruel and unusual punishment.”