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
Apr. 01, 2002 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 6722
This heavily redacted paper "discusses the techniques and strategies for resisting interrogation described in captured al-Qa'ida training manuals and other documents. It suggests methods for recognizing when sophisticated resistance to ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Non-legal Memo, Cable
Abu Zubaydah
EIT
Apr. 01, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 6747
These April 2002 cables sets forth the plans, preparation, and proposed strategy for the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah.
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
James Mitchell
Apr. 01, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 6750
This April 2002 cable is redacted almost in full with the exception of a paragraph that questions the effectiveness of the confinement box on Abu Zubaydah, recognizing that it had a history of demonstrated effectiveness in the SERE program.
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
Abu Zubaydah
SERE, Cramped confinement
Apr. 01, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 6690
This heavily redacted cable states requests to employ "additional interrogation tactics" to move Abu Zubaydah into "forthcoming posture" regarding future terrorist attacks. The cable says to refer to the redacted text below for the particulars ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
Abu Zubaydah
EIT
Apr. 01, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 6803
This Joint Personnel Recovery Agency Draft Exploitation Plan crafted by Bruce Jessen and others in 2002 proposed the creation of a secret military interrogation facility abroad. The plan details personnel requirements, strategies for ...
Non-legal Memo
Bruce Jessen
EIT, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation
Mar. 31, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3959
This State Department memo addresses the issue of transferring and repatriating the Guantanamo detainees against the requirements of the Geneva Convention. The memo highlights the Geneva Convention provision which states, in part, "POWs shall be ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Non-legal Memo
David W. Bowker
David W. Bowker, William Howard Taft, IV, James H. Thessin, Edward R. Cummings, Brent E. Blaschke
Mar. 26, 2002 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 2357
The index lists this document as: MFR dtd 26 Mar 02 w/attached cell transfer schedule/frequent flier program.
Mar. 26, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4017
This cable sent from the Paris Mission sent to State Department Headquarters with the following synopsis: “On March 19, 2002, post received a letter addressed to the Ambassador from the attorneys of the families of detainees who are allegedly in ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Cable
Colin L. Powell
JoAnn J. Dolan, Colin L. Powell, Bruce Swartz, John B. Bellinger, III, Eliana Davidson
Mar. 26, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4375
State Department talking points on the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) Rotational Move at Guantanamo. It concerns a report that the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) will be "pulling-out" of Guantanamo and have no ...
Dec. 23, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Edward R. Cummings, David W. Bowker, John Allen Buche
Mar. 25, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3942
Re: draft cable detainees release giving editing comments.
Dec. 30, 2004
Email
Joshua L. Dorosin
Lisa D. Miller | Sylvia Curran | Tina Kaidanow
Joshua L. Dorosin, Lisa D. Miller , Tina S. Kaidanow, Sylvia Reed Curran