Torture-Linked Psychologist Awarded Military Contract

A psychologist whose theories helped form the basis of the CIA torture program has been awarded a $31 million no-bid military contract. Salon.com reports Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania has signed on to help US soldiers cope with the psychological strain of multiple combat tours. A former president of the American Psychological Association, Seligman gave a 2002 address at the Navy’s SERE school in San Diego on his theory of "learned helplessness." In the 1960s, Seligman experimented on dogs and found that by shocking a dog repeatedly and randomly, he could brutalize it emotionally into a state of complete passivity. His research was later used for the Bush administration’s torture methods known as "enhanced interrogation techniques."