Speaker A
But that elicitation is powerful because we're not being asked questions. So our brain doesn't set off little security alarms. And this is how Soviet spies would get information from a 19-year-old US Navy sailor in the early days of
Learn about CIA's elicitation technique to gather info without direct questions, using statements to lower defenses and trigger corrections.
Key Takeaways
- Using statements instead of questions lowers people's guard and encourages voluntary information sharing.
- Correcting false information is a powerful elicitation method to get people to talk.
- Bracketing and expressing disbelief are effective complementary elicitation strategies.
- The more sensitive the information, the fewer direct questions should be asked.
- Elicitation techniques have practical applications in intelligence, business, and everyday conversations.
What the video covers
- Elicitation is a CIA technique that avoids direct questions to prevent triggering defensive responses.
- It uses statements to prompt people to correct inaccuracies, thereby revealing information voluntarily.
- The technique originated from John Nolan's book Confidential, now rare and off the market.
- Examples include casual conversations where statements provoke corrections or elaborations.
- Three main elicitation tactics are correcting the record, bracketing, and expressing disbelief.
- Correcting the record triggers people to fix false information, revealing sensitive details.
- Bracketing involves giving a range to narrow down answers without direct questioning.
- Disbelief statements provoke elaboration by expressing doubt about the given information.
- Elicitation is especially useful for sensitive information where direct questions raise suspicion.
- The technique was historically used by Soviet spies during the Cold War to extract military secrets.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction to Elicitation and Its Power
- 00:31Origin of Elicitation and John Nolan's Book
- 00:47Example Scenario: Elicitation at Whole Foods
- 01:44Using Statements to Trigger Corrections
- 02:37Different Elicitation Techniques Explained
- 03:47Disbelief as an Elicitation Tool
- 05:16Training and Applying Elicitation Techniques
- 07:26Historical Use: Soviet Spies in the Cold War
- 08:56Business Intelligence and Elicitation
- 09:37Summary and Practical Tips for Elicitation
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
the Cold War. You talk about this elicitation. Yeah. What is elicitation? It's a CIA technique, right? It is. It originally came up with by this guy named John Nolan and his book is no longer for sale. You have to get it
Speaker A
on eBay. Like it's hard to find, but the book is called Confidential. Why isn't it no longer for sale? I think that he just kind of pulled it off the shelf.
Speaker A
I'm not sure. Okay, so elicitation is about using statements instead of questions. And I'll give you an example.
Speaker A
Let's say you and I walk into Whole Foods, which is, we're in New York, so it's probably a block away somewhere.
Speaker A
Mhm. We walk in there and there's, let's say there's a young lady stocking produce and you get in there and I say, "All right, Stephen, your goal is to go figure out how much she makes in 60
Speaker A
seconds and you're not allowed to ask any questions or be awkward." And that's tough, right? It sounds really tough. So, if you went over to her and this is a generalization just to get you to understand what elicitation
Speaker A
is and said, "Hey, I'm trying to find the baby carrots." and she walks you over there. But while you're walking, you say, "I just read this article online that says all Whole Foods employees just got bumped up to $26 an
Speaker A
hour. That's fantastic." And she turns around and goes, "What?" No, I make 17. So now she doesn't feel like she's been pressed or questioned about how much she makes. She's correcting you.
Speaker A
Mhm. Or if you, let's say you got into an Uber tonight and you said, "I just read this article that Uber drivers were one of the top most highly satisfied employees in the country." You're going to get a
Speaker A
correction and you're going to be like, "What? Where did you read that?" So, triggering a need to correct the record is one of the easiest ways to use elicitation, but it's only one. Another one is just making a statement
Speaker A
afterwards and saying, "I bet you had some interesting experiences doing that." Or, "I can imagine that was challenging." Statements are always going to be better than asking pointed questions because a person feels like they're volunteering information. The third layer of that is
Speaker A
disbelief. Let's say I wanted to ask if you just got back from vacation and I didn't want to use any questions. Let's say we meet up for dinner or something and I said, "Steven, you look like you just got back from a
Speaker A
vacation." That's a statement. And you're like, "No, actually, I've been doing this, this, this, and this." So now you've given me more than if I just asked if you were on vacation. Mhm. And I said, "Wow, that had to be
Speaker A
interesting. I can't imagine that. There's got to be a lot of stuff going on there." And you start talking more and more and more and then like that sounds great. There were no challenges to that entire trip. I love when everything
Speaker A
is 100% flawless and you're like, no, well actually, and then you start going into that and I'm like, no way. Then now we have disbelief that comes in and I haven't asked a single question yet. So that's one thing that I challenge
Speaker A
everybody that I train to get really good at is that elicitation piece. So how many layers can I get into a person or a conversation just using these statements? And that's why I wrote there's a whole chapter about it in
Speaker A
this book here. But that elicitation is powerful because we're not being asked questions. So our brain doesn't set off little security alarms. And this is how Soviet spies would get information from a 19-year-old US Navy sailor in the
Speaker A
early days of the Cold War. The ship would pull into Thailand or a submarine would pull into Thailand or Singapore and a Russian would go up and these sailors would be drinking at the bar.
Speaker A
Russian would sit there, he's got an aloha shirt on or something and strike up a conversation and they say, "I know that the German submarines could outrun you because their propellers are 22 and all of your submarine propellers
Speaker A
are 18 ft in diameter." And the sailor, slightly drunk, turns around and says, "No, they're not." And starts giving up all this information just to correct the record. And that's all they did back then was just correcting the record. I'm
Speaker A
triggering this need to offer some kind of correction to information that's inaccurate. And even with business intelligence, let's say that a company's moving and they have to get business intelligence. Somebody at that company will get approached at a bar and
Speaker A
somebody will say, "Yeah, I heard you guys are moving between March and April." And they'll get corrected and they'll say, "No, it's actually February, but we're not really supposed to talk about it." It's like, there's no way you're going to move in February.
Speaker A
It's too cold and the interest rates are up too high. There's no possible way that the CEO would ever do that. It's like, yeah, and then you're going to get more information out because of the disbelief. So, that was
Speaker A
correcting the record. A second technique called bracketing where I'm giving you a series like between March and May or between 39 and 59. And the third is the disbelief that starts getting this information out of people.
Speaker A
So if you want to think about like how do I start a conversation or continue one using elicitation, think of the words so and then do a recap. So you've been doing this for 3 years or so this
Speaker A
is not the best job but it's getting things done for you or I bet. So I bet that was interesting. I bet there were still some challenges there or I bet you overcame a whole lot to get to this
Speaker A
point. So or I bet is the best way to do that. And when Okay. So if I say I bet you hate that coffee. Yeah. That's a statement, but you're going to endeavor to correct the record either
Speaker A
way. Yeah. And if you do hate the coffee, you'll say, "Yeah, like even you saying, "Yes, I do kind of hate it." is offering up information. Yeah. Okay.
Speaker A
Interesting. And you could even go on with that. Like, I bet you hate that coffee. And somebody says, "Yeah, well, I do kind of hate it." Like, I could imagine you're the kind of person who likes coffee a very specific way. Well,
Speaker A
yeah, here's how I like it a lot. And say, "That's extremely interesting. No creamer, no sugar," and I'm just recapping. So, why is that better than me just going, "How do you prefer your coffee?" Well, if we're just talking
Speaker A
about coffee, it's not sensitive information. So, I wouldn't say that was better. It's for sensitive information. Yeah. When you're trying to not get their guard up. Yeah. So, the rule of thumb is the more sensitive the
Speaker A
information is that you need, the fewer questions you need to be asking.
Topics:elicitationCIA techniqueshuman behaviorinterrogationinformation gatheringCold War espionageconversation skillspsychologybusiness intelligencechase hughes
