a plan. cnn s abby beau drew picks up the story. reporter: the 12 suspected spies were held in this small building on base. i decided that i needed to break protocol and interrogate them myself. i took three gentlemen outside. sat them down. walked away. fired my weapon in the ground three times hoping that the men on the inside left to their own imagination would think that they really needed to talk. reporter: meaning that maybe you killed these men? or hurt them. i really did not consider what they would think. i just knew it would gain a reaction. reporter: you thought it would scare them? yes. that s all i was concerned about. i needed that intelligence. what happened? fired three rounds into the ground. walked back inside. and sure enough some of the detainees started to talk. reporter: what the detainees told him inside this building was ultimately enough to convince the afghans to take all