The High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group (HIG) is an intelligence-gathering group created by the President of the United States in August 2009.[1] Its charter was drawn up in April 2010.[2] It was established to question terrorism suspects as soon as possible after their arrest in order to quickly extract information from them to head off any plots that might be about to unfold, and track down anyone who may have assisted the suspect.[2]
The group works mainly through interrogating overseas targets. The Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair stated in January 2010 that the group would extend its area of oversight to domestic targets as well.[3] The group is made up of intelligence professionals from many branches of the U.S. government including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and United States Department of Defense, is housed within the FBI, and run under the auspices of the National Security Council.[2]
The group's creation shifted power from the CIA and the FBI to the White House.[1][4]
The unit is run headed by an FBI employee with two deputies (one from the CIA, and one from the U.S. Defense Department), and has three regional teams. It is staffed by linguists, terrorist analysts, and professional interrogators, and supplemented by other government specialists.[2]
HIG was used to question Faisal Shahzad, the Times Square car bomber.[2]