Skills and skill levels for building an army, intelligence service, bureaucracy

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by Icelander

This is for evaluating psychological suitability and trustworthiness, not for professional competence?

Normally, yes, but I think it can also be used to ask the person, openly or subtly, about professional competence, to get an impression of whether he knows what he's talking about. Although simulatively, that may rely on the interviewing character being hard to fool, being hard to impress with big words, with any kind of aptitude for logic being particularly helpful (in GURPS IQ+Mathematical Talent, although that's not a perfect fit). And a sceptical attitude, although presumably any such seriously conducted interview will involve a sceptical attitude.