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 (538)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Nov. 07, 2007 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 6567
This letter from Steven Bradbury to the CIA's Associate General Counsel is a response to the CIA's November 7, 2007 letter regarding the interrogation of [redacted]. This letter states that applying the interrogation technique in question for the ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Letter
Steven G. Bradbury
May 25, 2004 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 6587
This May 25, 2004 letter from Jack Goldsmith asks John Helgerson for time to review the description in the CIA's memo of the OLC's advice concerning interrogations in the war on terrorism, before it is sent to Congress.
Aug. 31, 2016
Letter
Jack L. Goldsmith
John L. Helgerson
Scott W. Muller, John L. Helgerson, Jack L. Goldsmith
Mar. 02, 2004 | ACLU-RDI 6514
A letter from the CIA to OLC requesting that the OLC reaffirm its analyses in several previously issued memos relating to interrogation. The letter states that "we rely on the applicable law and OLC guidance to assess the lawfulness of detention ...
June 13, 2016
Legal Memo, Letter
CIA General Counsel
Jack Goldsmith
EIT, SERE, Use of water, Water dousing, Physical assault, Stomach/abdominal slap, Environmental manipulation, Temperature
Aug. 11, 2004 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 6533
This memorandum is a heavily redacted message to Acting Assistant Attorney General Dan Levin, stating that the CIA is preparing preliminary biographies "in preparation for a future request for a legal opinion" on interrogations in CIA control.
June 10, 2016
Cable, Letter
Dan Levin
Daniel B. Levin
Oct. 31, 2014 | ODNI | ACLU-RDI 5932
This letter from the Director of National Intelligence to Jameel Jeffer of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a response to the ACLU's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) of December 9, 2008.
Oct. 31, 2014
Letter
Jennifer Hudson
Jameel Jaffer
Jennifer Hudson
DOD | ACLU-RDI 5134
This document provides SECDEF guidance to assist in the execution of Operation Iraqi Freedom. It provides a list of 55 individuals on a Blacklist which is to be used to "help identify Iraqis who are to be apprehended and taken under US control ...
Dec. 06, 2003 | CID | ACLU-RDI 5167
Letter from the Chief Warrant Officer, U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command to John L. Helgerson, CIA Inspector General requesting assistance in investigating the death of Abed Hamed Mowhoush. Specifically, the letter requests "assistance in ...
Jan. 14, 2014
Letter
John L. Helgerson
John L. Helgerson
Abed Hamed Mowhoush
July 30, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 5148
CIA copy of a DOA letter addressed to the CIA's Office of General Counsel. In the letter Captain Christopher Graveline, Judge Advocate, states that he has been appointed trial counsel for the prosecution of five individuals in relation to ...
Jan. 14, 2014
Letter
Christopher Graveline | Captain | Judge Advocate
Christopher Graveline
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
Nov. 29, 2002 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5033
Background paper on redacted subject sent by Stanley M. Moskowitz, Director of Congressional Affairs at the CIA. Cover letters identify recipients of paper as congressional staffers Michael W. Sheehy, Tim Sample, Al Cumming, and Bill Duhnke, and ...
Mar. 15, 2013
Non-legal Memo, Letter
Stanley M. Moskowitz
Bill Dunkhe | Jerry Lewis | Ted Stevens | Michael W. Sheehy | Tim Sample | Al Cumming | Daniel K. Inouye
Stanley M. Moskowitz, Michael W. Sheehy, Tim Sample, Al Cumming, Bill Duhnke, Jerry Lewis, Daniel K. Inouye, Ted Stevens