This guide strips the process to its essentials: what’s really happening, how investigators operate and what you must do to survive.
Part I: When Dealing With Investigators
The Interrogation
Q: I was told to report to the investigators’ office tomorrow for a meeting. What should I expect?
It’s not a meeting. It’s a setup.
Investigators can’t order you to their office directly, so they route the invitation through command. You are also released to your command. This is designed to leverage a military member’s inherent inclination toward compliance.
The 24 to 48 hour lag time before the meeting is meant to make you anxious or provoke you into talking to someone else about what happened (nervous people talk). If they find out you talked to someone after getting the order to go to the meeting, they can interview that person and find out what you told them.
Once you’re in the interrogation room, the agents won’t read you your rights immediately. They’ll start with small talk. Don’t waste your time on that. As soon as they sit you down, say once, firmly: “I am not making a statement. I want a lawyer now.” Then shut up. That should end the interview. Don’t let them trick you into resuming the conversation. See below for more details.
Q: What legal rights do I have?
Under Article 31(b), you have stronger rights than civilians under Miranda. If investigators or anyone subject to the UCMJ thinks you committed a crime, they must read you your rights before questioning, whether or not you’re in custody. That includes anyone in your chain of command. The best way to protect yourself is to invoke your rights right up front and without wavering.
Interrogation Tactics: Lies, Stress, and “Just the Tip”
The Room:
Before the interview, you’ll wait a while in the lobby. You will then be escorted by one or two agents through a maze of hallways, past interrogation rooms and offices, and then led into a small, windowless room with a tiny, semi-hidden camera overhead. You’ll be left there alone a while before the agents return. It’s a controlled environment built to make you uncomfortable. You won’t see any clocks either. They don’t want you thinking about how long you’ve been in the room. Time flies when you’re anxious; hours can seem like minutes, and if you knew you had been it there for hours you might snap out of it and ask to leave.
Your Phone:
Don’t bring it. If you bring it, don’t take it out. You’re being watched and probably recorded. Checking your screen or entering a passcode can give them what they need to unlock it later.
Small Talk:
They’ll start with small talk, trying to find personal details they can use to simulate common interests. You like baseball? Me too! This is called building rapport.
They will then transition to a vague accusation: “We got a report about some online activity.” They might ask, “Do you know why you’re here?” They’ll read your rights, downplaying them like it’s a formality, no big deal, just sign here and then we can talk. They will probably suggest that this is your only chance to tell your side of the story. It’s not. We can always share your version of events later, at any time.
- Confrontation: They’ll say they already know what you did and they can prove it. They have all the evidence they need. They just want to hear your side of things.
- They’re allowed to lie about what evidence they have. They can say they have witnesses, videos, and other evidence. They might have nothing other than a suspicion or rumor. Don’t lie, even if they do. If you lie to them, even if it’s in reply to one of their lies, you can be charged with False Official Statement, which is often easier to prove than the original accusation.
- Are you Jack the Ripper or just a rapist? At some point, they’ll offer a gentler theme of what you allegedly did: “We don’t think you’re not a sexual predator. Maybe were just curious. You thought she was into it. That’s what I would have thought too. Maybe you just used the tip?” If you agree, you just confessed to rape.
- It’s one thing to get a confession during an interrogation, when the defense can argue later the confession was the product of psychological intimidation. But when there’s a written confession, in the defendant’s own hand, written while alone in a room, with bathroom breaks and drinks offered, that’s a much harder obstacle to overcome. If they ask you to write a confession, they might also invite you to add an apology “to your commander.” The apology will get you nothing in return.
You can’t out-smart this setup. It’s designed to make anyone break.
She said, You said
Q: Can they convict me in a “He said, she said” case, with no other evidence?
Yes. One believable witness can be enough. All it takes is for a judge or jury to believe “what she said” beyond a reasonable doubt.
Anything you say or do that corroborates her account turns this into a “what you both said” case. If you corroborate any of the details of her story, no matter how harmless you think they might be, you are bolstering her credibility. A significant portion of an interrogation will be spent trying to get you to corroborate certain details of her story without you realizing that’s what you’re doing.
Part II: Cases Involving Electronic and Digital Evidence
Your Devices Are Evidence
Q: Can they take my phone?
Yes, and if they’re asking, they probably already have your data from somewhere else.
Refusing Consent:
Always refuse a voluntary search. If they say they can get authorization, let them. If they show it, comply. If they claim to have verbal approval, comply but document who they say authorized it and when they got authorization. Your attorney will verify this later.
Preserve What Helps You:
If you sense trouble is coming, back up your data to a secure location only your attorney can reach. Your attorney can help you look for helpful evidence the government might not have.
Q: Can they force me to unlock my phone or give them my passcode?
No. Your passcode is like speech and it’s covered by your right to remain silent. But they can compel biometrics like a fingerprint or face scan once they get authority. When in doubt, use a passcode.
Q: Do I get my own digital expert?
Yes. If your case relates to phone or other digital evidence, your lawyer can request a government-funded forensic expert. We work with digital analysts regularly to challenge the government’s analysis and determine whether any helpful evidence exists on your devices, on servers, or anywhere else the investigators didn’t look.
Your Accuser Gets to Pick and Choose What the Agents See
Investigators often let the accuser “scroll” through their own phone while agents take pictures of what the accuser chooses to show. Texts and other information that would have been helpful to you might not be there, because the accuser deleted it before showing the phone. Your own complete backup may be the only way to expose what they left out.
Part III: What a Digital Investigation Covers
If you’re under investigation by OSI, NCIS, CID, or CGIS, your digital life is already a crime scene. When the accusation involves CSAM or related misconduct, the investigation reaches into every aspect of your digital life. They will look for files and they will use your activity (search terms, folder names, file locations) to prove intent.
1. Devices and Deleted Data
Forensic teams make an image of your hard drive or phone to recover what you thought was gone. Deleted photos, messages, GPS data, and app histories.
2. Network and Cloud Records
They subpoena ISPs and cloud services for logs and storage data. Payments to VPNs, encrypted file-sharing, or dark-web services are flagged as evidence of intent.
3. Behavioral Traces
They scan devices for hash values that match known illicit files, search-term logs, and evidence of wiping software.
Part IV: Get an Attorney
Do not wait for charges. Early defense involvement can stop an investigation before it becomes a prosecution. At a minimum, it can prevent you from making your situation worse.
We have spent over twenty years fighting these cases, combining technical expertise with courtroom experience. We know the playbook because we’ve seen every version of it.
Your career and freedom are at risk. Protect them now.
Call 800-319-3134 for a confidential case review with attorneys who understand the technology and the tactics.