Spy the Lie: Former CIA Officers Teach You How to Detect Deception

by Philip Houston

consider what your mind-set would be if you were a guilty Simpson. You find yourself in a nightmarish situation: You did something unspeakably horrific last night, and you’re not even sure why you did it. You just lost control, went crazy for a few surreal moments, and now you’re scared to death. Your only strategy at this point is to try to figure out how this whole investigative and legal process is going to unfold, and you’re simply trying to stay one step ahead of the game. You’ve found yourself having been summoned to the LAPD headquarters to be interviewed, and you know you’re a reasonable suspect because of some issues that you and Nicole have had over the years. You know they’re going to ask you if you did it, and you know you’re going to say, “No.” So you show up at Parker Center, and the detectives take you to an interview room and read you your Miranda rights. Now, imagine that the interview begins something like the following: “O.J., first of all, thank you very much for coming in. We appreciate your willingness to do that. We know you’re very concerned about your children, and that you’re eager to get back to them to ensure they’re okay. So while there is a lot that we’d like to cover, we’re going to stick to the most important issues. O.J., I think the most important thing we need to ask you about is, what happened at Nicole’s last night?”