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 (118)

This cable provides a report of day 9 of the cycle of interrogation carried out on detainee Abu Zubaydah on August 12, 2002. It includes details of interrogators using a combination of waterboarding, walling, cramped confinement, hooding, and ...
This cable provides a report of day 12 of the cycle of interrogation carried out on detainee Abu Zubaydah on August 15, 2002. Though large portions of this report are redacted, it includes details of interrogators using a combination of ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
Abu Zubaydah
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding, Cramped confinement, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling
Almost entirely redacted document entitled "Proposal for an enhanced interrogation strategy in the War on Terrorism." The only page which is not entirely redacted is an outline of the team responsible for Abu Zubaydah's interrogation.
Dec. 20, 2016
Non-legal Memo
Abu Zubaydah, Jose Padilla
SERE
This is an undated note from Jim Mitchell in which he proposes his ideas for "the broad features of the training program" and offers his and Bruce Jessen's help putting the training together and delivering it or helping to "craft the product". ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Non-legal Memo, Letter
James Mitchell
James Mitchell , Bruce Jessen
This is a memo detailing the visit of a three-person behavioral interrogation team's visit to Abu Zubaydah's holding compound and "evolving" interrogation room. It includes details of the team's suggestions for cell modifications, including "the ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
Abu Zubaydah
Light or sound, Environmental manipulation
This is a memo from the CIA which describes the month-long custody and interrogation of detainee Abu Zubaydah and requests comments from Alec/HQs "on establishing the priority focus of the ongoing interrogations of Abu Zubaydah".
This cable discusses the results of CIA Directorate of Operations investigation into the November 2002 death of Gul Rahman, including hourly updates on his condition the day of his death.
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
Gul Rahman
Environmental manipulation, Temperature, Nudity, Other
This May 28, 2003 email states that going forward Jim Mitchell and Bruce Jessen will be doing much less in the interrogation role and more strategic consulting work, research and program development projects, and more in the psychology role. The ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Email
Bruce Jessen, James Mitchell
Abu Zubaydah
This CIA cable states that interrogators may use a confinement box on Abu Zubaydah to move him into a "more forthcoming posture" for one to two hours. The cable also allows the interrogators to use another redacted method as long as there are ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
Abu Zubaydah
EIT, Cramped confinement
This May 2002 cable asks that James Mitchell's contract, which is set to expire in May 2002 be extended because his participation has been "invaluable" to the interrogation team, particularly with regards to Abu Zubaydah's interrogation.
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
James Mitchell
Abu Zubaydah