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 (133)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
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
DOA | ACLU-RDI 2002
Army Memo on the Current Prison Investigations list of seven investigations into allegations of abuse at Guantanamo, Bagram, Abu Ghraib, Army Reserve: Training, and Worldwide.
Feb. 15, 2006
Non-legal Memo
Donald H. Rumsfeld, Ricardo Sanchez, Antonio Taguba, George R. Fay, James R. Helmly
May 13, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 2092
Emails discuss a "HASC murder board." The emails are heavily redacted. An attached document contains an operations update for the Secretary of Defense.
Feb. 15, 2006
Email
Donald J. Ryder, Ricardo Sanchez, Donald H. Rumsfeld
May 14, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 2098
Emails discuss a briefing to the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. The significant points from the briefing are attached and included in the email; included in the points is a discussion of whether any team member observed detainee abuse at ...
Feb. 15, 2006
Email
Donald J. Ryder, Donald H. Rumsfeld
May 19, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 2115
Emails refer to a Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) document related to an independent panel to review DOD detention operations and an Office of the Provost Marshall General (PMG) task summary sheet.
Feb. 15, 2006
Email
Donald H. Rumsfeld
May 25, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 2132
Emails discuss a meeting with Secretary of Defense, Donald H. Rumsfeld, to discuss the following: detainee deaths, homicides and investigations, Red Cross issues, Migration of interrogation techniques and interrogations (GTMO - Baghram - Iraq), ...
Feb. 15, 2006
Email
Donald J. Ryder
James A. Coggin, Keith B. Alexander, Antonio Taguba, Donald J. Ryder, George W. Casey, Jr., Janis Leigh Karpinski, Ricardo Sanchez, James R. Schlesinger, Donald H. Rumsfeld
Aug. 09, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 2210

Email includes a PowerPoint presentation entitled "Detainee Operations Summary," which outlines different events surrounding detainee abuse cases, including Private First Class England's pre-trial investigation.

Feb. 15, 2006
Email
Lynndie Rana England, Paul J. Kern, Anthony R. Jones, George R. Fay, Joel F. Hefley , Barbara A. Mikulski, Tina Ballard, Keith B. Alexander, Gregory Meeks, Henry A. Waxman, Chris Geren, Michael D. Maples, Ron Lee Wyden, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Sabrina D. Harman, Ricardo Sanchez, Richard B. Cheney, Edward L. Richmond, Richard X. McGraw, Paul Wolfowitz, James R. Schlesinger
Nagem Sadoon Hatab , Naeem Sadun Hatab
DOD | ACLU-RDI 2246
Chart shows the ebb and flow of media coverage on detainee abuse since January 2004.
Feb. 15, 2006
Chart/List
Donald H. Rumsfeld, Lynndie Rana England, Charles H. Jacoby, David W. Barno, Richard P. Formica, James R. Schlesinger, Albert T. Church, Anthony R. Jones, George R. Fay, Paul J. Kern, Antonio Taguba
May 25, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 2248
Emails discuss notes from a Technical Integration Group Engaged in Research (TIGER) Team meeting. The email mentions that Lieutenant Kieth Alexander thinks there may be a pattern between critical events and abuses (e.g. riots-abuses; ...
Feb. 15, 2006
Email
Donald J. Ryder, Keith B. Alexander, Donald H. Rumsfeld, James A. Coggin, Antonio Taguba, James R. Schlesinger, Antonio Taguba, Janis Leigh Karpinski, Ricardo Sanchez, George W. Casey, Jr.
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