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 (41)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
May 11, 2004 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5105
CIA copy of Washington Post article discussing prisons in Iraq, the CIA's interrogations, and the use of torture and rendition.
Mar. 15, 2013
Other
Alberto R. Gonzales, John McLaughlin, Larry Thompson, George J. Tenet
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Ramzi Bin al Shibh, Abu Zubaydah, Muhammad Saad Iqbal, Maher Arar
EIT, Sleep deprivation
Jan. 29, 2004 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5074

This letter from CIA Director George Tenet to Pat Roberts, Chairman of the U.S. Senate's Select Committee on Intelligence, alerts Roberts of the enclosed CIA Inspector General's memo on the death of Iraqi detainee Manadal Al-Jamaidi.

Mar. 15, 2013
Other
George Tenet
Charles Patrick "Pat" Roberts
George J. Tenet, Pat Roberts, John D. Rockefeller, IV
Manadel Al-Jamadi
May 08, 2004 | ACLU-RDI 5046
In this letter dated May 6, 2004, Human Rights Watch "calls, first, for the U.S. government to reveal all places of detention where security or terrorist suspects are being held on whatever grounds, and second, for it to permit independent, ...
Mar. 15, 2013
Letter
Kenneth Roth
Donald Rumsfeld
Donald H. Rumsfeld, George J. Tenet
Feb. 07, 2002 | WH | ACLU-RDI 6822
This February 7, 2002 memorandum announces to the vice president, secretary of state, attorney general, CIA director, and others that the President accepts the legal conclusions of the Department of Justice that the Geneva Conventions do not ...
May 15, 2012
Non-legal Memo
George W. Bush
Richard B. Cheney
Colin L. Powell, Condoleeza Rice, Jay B. Stephens, Andrew Card, George J. Tenet, Richard B. Myers
Feb. 02, 2002 | NSC | ACLU-RDI 6823
This document contains a chart labeled "Detainees-Limited Access" from the National Security Council Distribution Receipt West Wing Desk. The chart contains a list of government officials under the "addressee" column.
May 15, 2012
Chart/List
Richard B. Cheney, Colin L. Powell, Donald H. Rumsfeld, John D. Ashcroft, Andrew Card, George J. Tenet, Richard B. Myers
July 29, 2009 | OPR | ACLU-RDI 5022

The DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) released this report investigating whether Department of Justice attorneys violated their ethical obligations in issuing several memoranda authorizing the use of Enhanced Interrogation ...

July 19, 2010
Oversight Report
Frank Wolf, Larry Thompson, Ted Ullyot, George J. Tenet, Steven G. Bradbury, Jay S. Bybee, John C. Yoo, Patrick Leahy, David S. Addington, John D. Ashcroft, John B. Bellinger, III, David Brant, Michael Chertoff, Adam Ciongoli, Paul Clement, James B. Comey, Alice Fisher, Timothy E. Flanigan, Ari Fleischer, Jack L. Goldsmith, Alberto R. Gonzales, Stephen Hadley, William J. Haynes, II, John L. Helgerson, H. Marshall Jarrett, Patrick Leahy, Daniel B. Levin, John McCain, John McLaughlin, Paul McNulty, Harriet Miers, Alberto Mora, Steven J. Morello, Scott W. Muller, Robert S. Mueller, Patrick Philbin, Colin L. Powell, Condoleeza Rice, John A. Rizzo, Chuck Rosenberg, Donald H. Rumsfeld, George W. Bush, Michael Mukasey, Mark Filip, Barack H. Obama, David Margolis, Michael Gelles, Robert J. Delahunty, Diane E. Beaver, Thomas J. Romig, David Leitch, John B. Wiegmann, Alan Kreczko, Christopher Schroeder
Abu Zubaydah, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Mohammed al Qahtani, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi
EIT, SERE, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Threat, Assault/death, Family/others, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Forced grooming, Manipulation of interrogator’s identity, Other
Aug. 31, 2009 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 4997

A Vaughn index describing 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 all of the CIA OIG documents in ...

Aug. 31, 2009
Judicial (Vaughn Declaration/Index)
Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein
Scott W. Muller, George J. Tenet
Abu Zubaydah
EIT
Jan. 28, 2003 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 4561

This memo on confinement conditions for CIA detainees is divided into sections: 1) minimums; 2) implementing procedures; 3) responsible CIA officer; 4) [redacted].  An acknowledgment form/waiver is attached. [OLC Vaughn Index #11]

Aug. 24, 2009
Non-legal Memo
George Tenet
George J. Tenet
Jan. 28, 2003 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 4562
This CIA memo provides guidelines on interrogations of detainees, Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters. The memo is divided into the following sections: 1) Permissible Interrogation Techniques; 2) Medical and Psychological Personnel; 3) Interrogation ...
Aug. 24, 2009
Non-legal Memo
George Tenet
George J. Tenet
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Other
June 18, 2004 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 4570

This letter from Goldsmith to Director Tenet requests that the CIA Inspector General’s report be returned to the IG so that edits may be made to the report’s summary of the Attorney General’s statements at a July 2003 meeting ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Letter
Jack L. Goldsmith
George Tenet
Jack L. Goldsmith, George J. Tenet, John D. Ashcroft, John L. Helgerson, Scott W. Muller