After September 11, 2001, U.S. officials authorized the cruel treatment and torture of prisoners held in Afghanistan, Iraq, Guantanamo, and the CIA's secret prisons overseas.

This database documents the U.S. government's official experiment with torture. At present, the database contains well over 100,000 pages of government documents obtained primarily through Freedom of Information Act litigation and requests filed by the ACLU, and through litigation of Salim v. Mitchell, a lawsuit brought by the ACLU on behalf of the survivors and the family of a dead victim of the CIA torture program. To learn more about the database, please read the About and Search Help pages. If you're a developer, you can also access this data through our API.

Search Result (123)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Sept. 19, 2009 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 4994

A Vaughn Declaration from Wendy Hilton, CIA, relating to 171 OLC documents responsive to the ACLU's FOIA requests of October 7, 2003 and May 25, 2004. The government originally withheld 181 OLC documents in full, and Judge Hellerstein upheld ...

Sept. 21, 2009
Judicial (Affidavit/Declaration, Vaughn Declaration/Index)
Wendy M. Hilton
Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein
Wendy M. Hilton, Leon E. Panetta, Barack H. Obama, George W. Bush
EIT
Aug. 31, 2009 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 4996

A Vaughn Declaration from Wendy Hilton, CIA, relating to documents from the files of the CIA Office of the Inspector General (OIG) responsive to the ACLU's FOIA requests of October 7, 2003 and May 25, 2004. The government originally withheld ...

Aug. 31, 2009
Judicial (Affidavit/Declaration, Vaughn Declaration/Index)
Wendy M. Hilton
Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein
Wendy M. Hilton, Leon E. Panetta, Barack H. Obama, George W. Bush
EIT
Dec. 30, 2004 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 4585

This document was originally released on June 1, 2005 (ACLU-RDI 3547).  This OLC memo supercedes the August 2002 memo interpreting the anti-torture statute. The memo disagrees with the previous memo's conclusions that torture is ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Legal Memo
Daniel B. Levin
James B. Comey
Daniel B. Levin, James B. Comey, George W. Bush
May 10, 2005 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 4549

An OLC memo concluding that the CIA’s interrogation techniques do not violate the torture statute if used individually.

Apr. 16, 2009
Legal Memo
Steven G. Bradbury
John A. Rizzo
Steven G. Bradbury, John A. Rizzo, James B. Comey, Daniel B. Levin, John L. Helgerson, George J. Tenet, Jay S. Bybee, George W. Bush
EIT, SERE, Waterboarding, Water dousing, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Nudity, Use of water, Physical assault
Oct. 23, 2001 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 4540

This memo considers the use of military force to prevent or deter terrorist activity domestically and concludes that, “the President has both constitutional and statutory authority to use the armed forces in military operations, against ...

Mar. 02, 2009
Legal Memo
John C. Yoo | Robert J. Delahunty
Alberto Gonzalez | William J. Haynes, II
Robert J. Delahunty, William J. Haynes, II, John C. Yoo, George W. Bush, David S. Kris
May 07, 2004 | CIA-OIG | ACLU-RDI 4525

A heavily redacted version of a report authored by the CIA's Office of the Inspector General.  The report was later released in less-redacted form.  It discusses the CIA's use of the "enhanced interrogation techniques," ...

May 27, 2008
Oversight Report
John L. Helgerson
John C. Yoo, George J. Tenet, George W. Bush, John L. Helgerson, John A. Rizzo, John McLaughlin
Abu Zubaydah, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
Jan. 21, 2003 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 2341
The document sets for standard operating procedures for interrogation operations taking place at Guantanamo under the Joint Interrogation Group (JIG) of the Joint Task Force (JTF) Guantanamo Bay. It states that "[t]here is much you will be asked ...
June 15, 2006
Non-legal Memo
George W. Bush
July 07, 2004 | DON | ACLU-RDI 5019

This memo by Alberto Mora, General Counsel of the Navy, gives the chronology of his opposition (and the opposition of other members of the Navy) to the harsh interrogation techniques authorized for use at Guantanamo Bay by Secretary of Defense ...

Feb. 27, 2006
Legal Memo
Alberto Mora
Albert T. Church
Alberto Mora, Albert T. Church, Donald H. Rumsfeld, William J. Haynes, II, Mary Walker, Thomas F. Kranz, William R. Molzahn, Charlotte O. Wise, Richard W. Schieke, Michael F. Lohr, Kevin M. Sandkuhler, Peter Murphy, David Brant, Michael Gelles, Steven J. Morello, Thomas W. Taylor, Michael E. Dunlavey , Diane E. Beaver, Gordon R. England, William J. Fallon, Kevin P. Green, Susan M. Livingstone, George W. Bush, Jaymie Durnan, Paul Wolfowitz, Jane Dalton, Daniel Dell'Orto, John C. Yoo, Patrick Leahy, Daniel J. Ramos, James T. Hill, Geoffrey D. Miller
Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Use of phobias, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Hooding/Goggling, Other Humiliation, Sexual
May 17, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 2265

Emails discuss the handling of detainee death and abuse cases, authors comment on the investigations and different training techniques being used as a result of the reports and investigations. Included is an Associated Press article which ...

Feb. 15, 2006
Email
James R. Helmly, Michael W. Beasley, Donald J. Ryder, Romie Leslie Brownlee, Donald H. Rumsfeld, John Warner, Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Condoleeza Rice, Colin L. Powell, George W. Casey, Jr., Carl Levin, Antonio Taguba, Peter Pace, Pat Roberts, Thomas Andrew Daschle, George W. Bush
Dilawar, Habibullah
Dec. 16, 2002 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 1876
Memo provides guidance to Criminal Investigative Task Force (CITF) personnel on detainee interrogation procedures. The memo references the President's November 13, 2001 order that stated detainees should be treated humanely.
Dec. 21, 2005
Non-legal Memo
George W. Bush