A penetrating look into the hidden networks of wartime capture, circulation, and detainment by United States military personnel

The Capture Chain offers a detailed history of the United States’ detention practices and the evolving infrastructure designed for the apprehension, control, and transportation of people during times of war. Spanning eight decades and several major conflicts, this work examines the hidden spaces and logistical networks connecting the front lines and prisoner-of-war camps—sites that exist at the fraught intersection of life maintenance and death distribution.

Detailing the routes, protocols, research methods, and technical systems that constitute what Richard Nisa terms the global capture chain, this book underscores how such military architectures have become increasingly sophisticated and technologically advanced since the dawn of the Cold War. Drawing on declassified military documents, diplomatic records from the Geneva Conventions, and memoirs written by soldiers and prisoners, The Capture Chain offers unprecedented insight into this shifting geography of psychological and physical violence.

Using archival research to draw links between behavioral science studies during the Korean War, Vietnam-era computation, and post-9/11 rendition networks and digital biometrics, The Capture Chain introduces new ways of understanding urgent contemporary debates around autonomous warfare, mass surveillance, and detainment. By introducing the capture chain as both a historical object and a methodological lens, Nisa highlights the legal and moral grey area that constitutes the ongoing militarized maintenance of human life.

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Richard Nisa is associate dean of the Integrative Design, Arts, and Technology (IDeATe) Program at Carnegie Mellon University and associate teaching professor in Carnegie Mellon Architecture.