Matthew Alexander is a former senior interrogator for the U.S. Air Force who conducted or supervised nearly 1,300 interrogations in Iraq.  Alexander has become a leading advocate for noncoercive methods of interrogation and a relentless critic of the harsh techniques used by the military during the Bush administration.

As an Open Society Fellow, Alexander will monitor and critique the changes proposed by President Obama's Special Task Force on Detainee Policy. He will also write a supplement to the interrogation manual to supersede the incomplete Army Field Manual. Alexander's supplement will highlight effective interrogation techniques used to build a relationship of trust with a detainee, the most vital element of cooperation, and highlight positive aspects of Arab and Muslim culture.

Alexander is the author of How to Break a Terrorist: The US Interrogators Who Used Brains, Not Brutality, to Take Down the Deadliest Man in Iraq and has written for the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and the New York Times, among other publications. He is a regular guest on TV news shows and has appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, CNN, Fox News, and the CBS Evening News.

Washington, DC; New York, NY  |  August 2009 - July 2010