The American Psychological Association (APA) announced Tuesday that three of its top officials have left the organization following a damning 542-page report issued this month detailing how APA leaders secretly collaborated with the Department of Defense by establishing ethics policies that justified CIA torture programs.
The association's chief executive officer, its deputy CEO and its communications chief are no longer with the organization, the APA announced in a press release.
All three individuals were implicated in the independent torture report released by former federal prosecutor David Hoffman, reported the Guardian.
Hoffman concluded that APA officials "colluded" with the U.S. Department of Defense and helped the CIA loosen professional ethics and other guidelines so that psychologists could participate in torture.
We apologize for the disturbing findings in the independent review of our role in creating interrogation polices https://t.co/HyIEzio9p9
— APA (@APA) July 10, 2015
Hoffman's report does not claim that APA officials knew of entire details of the "enhanced interrogation program," but it does say that "APA officials were colluding with DoD officials to create and maintain loose APA ethics policies that did not significantly constrain DoD."
Norman Anderson, who served as CEO of the APA since 2003, initially planned his retirement before Hoffman's report was released, but the APA said Anderson felt "that moving up his retirement date to the end of 2015 would allow the association to take another step in the important process or organizational healing."
Also "retiring" is Deputy Chief Executive Officer Michael Honaker, and APA's executive director for public and member communications, Rhea Farberman, has "resigned," the APA said.
"Ms. Farberman and the Board are in agreement that going forward APA plans to hire a chief communications officer who can provide a fresh start to the association's communications needs as it grapples with the problems identified by the Hoffman report," the press release said.
The three officials join Stephen Behnke, the APA's former ethics chief who Hoffman found was the main culprit in the scandal, in the first wave of departures.
