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 (6709)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
July 16, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 90
CID Report of investigation initiated by Secretary of Defense on basis of “a photograph suspected to depict U.S. Army personnel abusing an Iraqi detainee.” The photograph, taken with a digital camera and found on a government computer, depicts ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Nelson van Eck, Jacqueline J. Scott
Stress positions, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling
July 16, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 125
Investigation into a soldier accused of stealing prayer beads and headwraps from prisoners at Camp Delta Detention Facility at Guantanamo Bay between April and July 2003. The investigation commenced after the soldier distributed such personal ...
Nov. 08, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Thom Jones
July 16, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 192
This email states that Admiral Church has requested information on interrogator issues and the party to the email states that the DIA IG is requesting similar information. Several drafts of the information request are passed back and forth and ...
Apr. 06, 2005
Email
Albert T. Church
July 16, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 848

Interviewee became the Chief of Staff under MG Fast in October 2003. Interviewee's sworn statement describes the general atmosphere at AG (chain of command, etc.); explains a lack of "formal system to monitor [contractor] ...

Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Statement)
Ricardo Sanchez, Thomas Pappas, Barbara G. Fast
July 16, 2004 | ACLU-RDI 2310
Discusses incidents of abuse of detainees by Army personnel that have been substantiated. Legal discussion point out that Article 93 does not specifically prohibit these acts, but does prohibit cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment and intent ...
Feb. 15, 2006
Non-legal Memo
Physical assault, General, Assault/death, Stress positions, Use of phobias, Nudity, Sexual, Religious, Threat, Other Humiliation
July 16, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 3234
Email from FBI agent to Alex J. Turner to give him a "Heads-up" so he doesn't get "Blindsided" on a matter that the email author states they were contacted about. Contents redacted.
Dec. 15, 2004
Email
Alex J. Turner
Alex J. Turner
July 16, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 3339

Email to Alex Turner as a Heads-up on Public Corruption Case.

May 18, 2005
Email
Alex J. Turner
Alex J. Turner, Charles J. Cunningham
July 16, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4041
No relevant text.
Dec. 30, 2004
Email
JoAnn J. Dolan
Katherine M. Gorove | Andre Surena
Shahnaz Gheibi, JoAnn J. Dolan, Katherine M. Gorove, Andre M. Surena, Sharon E. Ahmad
July 16, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4158
Emails discuss a visit by an unknown individual and a Baltimore Sun article entitled "Pentagon Says It's Hiding No One From Red Cross." The more recent email is redacted. The news article reports that the Pentagon denies hiding imprisoned ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Email
JoAnn J. Dolan
William Howard Taft, IV | James H. Thessin | Edward R. Cummings | Steven A. Solomon | Joshua L. Dorosin | Robert E. Dalton | Lois Allder | Michael T. Peay | Daphne Cook | Rebecca M. Ingber | Avril D. Haines
JoAnn J. Dolan, William Howard Taft, IV, James H. Thessin, Steven A. Solomon, Edward R. Cummings, Joshua L. Dorosin, L.R. Lohman, Thomas Malionek, Daphne W. Cook, Lois L. Allder, John I. Blanck, Jr., Sharon E. Ahmad, Michael J. Dennis, Robert E. Dalton, Michael T. Peay, Avril Haines, Rebecca M. Ingber, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Lawrence Di Rita
July 16, 2004 | NCIS | ACLU-RDI 5156
This document is a statement from an unknown military suspect concerning his/her knowledge of allegations of mistreatment of Manadel Al-Jamadi, who was held at Abu-Ghraib while in the custody of Foxtrot Platoon, SEAL Team #7. This military ...
Jan. 14, 2014
Interview (Statement)
Manadel Al-Jamadi
Physical assault