Albert Hirsch
The Treadstone supervisor who oversaw the breaking of David Webb.
Albert Hirsch is a supervisor in the Treadstone program who monitors the medical assessment of Treadstone agents. He is present at a secret recruitment center in New York City, where he orders David Webb tortured for days — via waterboarding and sleep deprivation — to break his spirit and allow him to be molded into an assassin. Hirsch oversees this process as Webb is brought into the program by Neal Daniels.
Lore & Background
Albert Hirsch appears in the film backstory of Jason Bourne as a supervisor in the Treadstone program. He is responsible for monitoring the medical assessment of Treadstone agents. When David Webb is brought into a secret recruitment center in New York City by Neal Daniels, Hirsch orders him tortured for days — via waterboarding and sleep deprivation — to break his spirit and allow him to be molded into an assassin. After this conditioning, Webb is officially accepted into the program when he murders an unidentified man (implied to be the real Jason Bourne) without question.
Reader's Guide
Albert Hirsch is a supervisor in the Treadstone program, specifically tasked with monitoring the medical assessment of Treadstone agents. He orders the torture of David Webb, by waterboarding and sleep deprivation, at a secret recruitment center in New York City. This conditioning is intended to break Webb's spirit and allow him to be molded into an assassin. In The Bourne Ultimatum, Bourne confronts Hirsch, who reveals that Bourne volunteered for Treadstone; Hirsch is later arrested.
More in Characters
Elsewhere in The Bourne Identity
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