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 (32)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
May 13, 2004 | ACLU-RDI 5068
This article describes "a set of secret rules for the interrogation of high-level Qaeda prisoners" that the Bush Administration, Department of Justice, and CIA adopted after September 11.
Mar. 15, 2013
Other
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah, Ramzi Bin al Shibh, Walid Bin Attash, Jose Padilla
Use of water, Waterboarding, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Other
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
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
May 07, 2004 | CIA-OIG | ACLU-RDI 4611

This May 7, 2004 Special Review by the CIA’s Office of the Inspector General examines the CIA’s counterterrorism detention and interrogation activities, including the apparently unauthorized use of mock executions, a hand gun, a ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Oversight Report
John L. Helgerson
John C. Yoo, John A. Rizzo, George J. Tenet, Jay S. Bybee
Abu Zubaydah, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Mustafa Ahmed al Hawsawi, Jose Padilla, Binyam Mohamed, Riduan "Hambali" Isamuddin, Majid Khan, Mohd Farik Bin Amin, Saifullah Paracha
EIT, SERE, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Threat, Assault/death, Rendition, Family/others, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation
Feb. 28, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 2955
reports results of interview conducted of detainee at Bagram Control Point, Bagram, Afghanistan.ÿ Detainee stated that he did not have knowledge of Usama Bin Laden, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed or Al Qaeda because no one is allowed to speak inside ...
Dec. 15, 2004
Interview (Summaries/Notes)
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
Sept. 05, 2003 | CIA-OIG | ACLU-RDI 4523

A heavily redacted summary of an interview by the CIA's Office of the Inspector General, of Scott W. Muller, the CIA's general counsel. The interview summary discusses viewing videotapes, the approval of waterboarding during the interrogation ...

May 27, 2008
Interview (Summaries/Notes)
Scott W. Muller
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
July 17, 2003 | CIA-OIG | ACLU-RDI 4616

Memorandum for the record regarding a meeting with a senior CIA officer about the detention and interrogation program of the CIA. The unredacted portions of the document primarily discuss the alleged effectiveness of the program. [REDACTED] ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Non-legal Memo, Interview (Summaries/Notes)
Abu Zubaydah, Ramzi Bin al Shibh, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, Majid Khan, Abd al Aziz Ali, Walid Bin Attash, Mohd Farik Bin Amin
DOS | ACLU-RDI 3828

Email from Russ K. LaMotte, emailed a transcript of an April 20, 2004 Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) Hearing on Iraq and Afghanistan to other DOS officials. The hearing transcript is included; the theme is broad, it discusses the ...

Email, Interview (Transcript)
Russell K. LaMotte
Joshua L. Dorosin | James H. Thessin | Todd F. Buchwald | Stephen D. Mathias
Russell K. LaMotte, Joshua L. Dorosin, James H. Thessin, Todd F. Buchwald, D. Stephen Mathias, Carl Levin, Monica J. Tillery, Marc Grossman, Frank E. Schmelzer , John Warner, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard B. Myers, George W. Bush, Dov S. Zakeim, Eric Shinseki, John Dimitri Negroponte, Tommy Franks, Raymond T. Odierno, John R. Batiste, Jack Keane, Richard B. Myers, Mick Kicklighter, Francis J. Ricciardone, Jr., Jay Garner, Alan Wayne Allard, John McCain, Richard A. Clarke, Edward M. Kennedy, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Peter Schoomaker, Joe Lieberman, Sue Collins, Jeff Sessions, David Petraeus, John P. Abizaid, Jack Reed, Ricardo Sanchez, John Cornyn, Ben Nelson, Karl Winfrid Eikenberry, Elizabeth Dole, Mark Dayton, John Ensign, Daniel Akaka, Evan Bayh, Hillary Clinton, L. Paul Bremer, James Steele
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
| ACLU-RDI 6539
View version of transcript with portions released on 6/13/16 highlighted here: https://www.aclu.org/other/khalid-sheikh-muhammad-csrt-transcript
CSRT
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
EIT
| ACLU-RDI 6493
This memorandum prepared for Steve Bradbury details intelligence the CIA obtained through the use of enhanced interrogation techniques.
June 13, 2016
Non-legal Memo
[Redacted] Legal Group DCI Counterterrorist Center
Steve Bradbury
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah, Walid Bin Attash, Abd al Aziz Ali, Riduan "Hambali" Isamuddin, Lillie (Mohammed Nazir Bin Lep), Hassan Ghul