Before exploring potential policy implications, this memo will first identify the key issues, based upon Pfiffner’s article, that set the conditions for torture and abuse. First, Pfiffner proposes that the most compelling justification for torture and abuse was the “ticking time bomb” scenario (Pfiffner, 2005 p. 316). He describes this scenario in the as a sequence of events. Essentially torture is justifiable if there is an imminent planned attack, the captive knows of said attack, torture is the only method of obtaining information, captive must be persuaded to give up information, the information must be precise and if information is obtained, there must be sufficient time to utilize said information to prevent the imminent attack (Pfiffner,
