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.
This heavily redacted cable provides authorization and authority for Bruce Jessen and James Mitchell to use the full range of level 1 EITs and the level 2 water board. All envelope information is redacted.
This document is a fax from John Rizzo to Steven Bradbury containing Mr. Rizzo's draft Q&A responses for an upcoming hearing on detention and interrogation.
This document is testimony given by Steven Bradbury, acting Assistant Attorney General of the OLC before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. The testimony contains Mr. Bradbury's summary of the four legal standards that apply to the ...
This Letter Contract signifies the Government's intention to "negotiate and definitize" a formal contract with Mitchell, Jessen and Associates (MJA). The Letter Contract provides that MJA may proceed with the tasks identified in the "Statement of ...
This letter provides Bruce Jessen, of Mitchell, Jessen and Associates LLC confirmation of Verbal Authorization to Proceed Not to Exceed for DCI's Counterterrorist Center (CTC) Elicitation and Training for a CTC Project (name of Project redacted ...
An OLC memo from Jack Goldsmith to John Helgerson, the CIA's Inspector General, expressing disagreement with the Special Review's representation of OLC opinions on two points -- whether John Ashcroft (Attorney General) authorized "expanded use" ...
Report from the Office of Inspector General on Counterterrorism Detention and Interrogation Activities from September 2001-October 2003, specifically focusing on the use of Enhanced Interrogation Techniques (EITs). In September 2016, a version ...
This report details the investigation into the death of Gul Rahman. This re-released report includes a description of psychologist Bruce Jessen and his role in the interrogation of Gul Rahman. A version of this document was re-released in ...
This document, prepared by the Chief of Medical Services, summarizes and reflects upon the rendition, detention and interrogation program. The findings include that in a particular no evidence was found that the use of waterboard produced ...
This letter is the CIA's response to questions raised by Daniel Levin, OLC, regarding the use of waterboarding. The letter describes the CIA's limits in administering the technique. [OLC Vaughn Index #72]
This letter from Scott Muller to John Bellinger concerns further discussions that clarified the approval of certain interrogation techniques. He writes, "the authorized techniques are those previously approved for use with Abu Zubaydah (with the ...
This letter from John Helgerson, Inspector General of the CIA, to Jack Goldsmith of the OLC addresses the DOJ's proposed modifications to the IG report. Helgerson writes, "we have carefully reviewed the comments of the [DOJ] regarding the Special ...
This letter from Scott Muller explains that Jack Goldsmith's letter to George Tenet, Director of the CIA, was forwarded to the Inspector General and that his office would decide whether the suggested changes to the Special Review would be made. ...
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 ...
A list of bullet points discussing legal principles applicable to the CIA's detention and interrogation of detainees, including the use of the "enhanced interrogation techniques." Many of the principles listed appear in the OLC's interrogation ...
This is a list of 3 Classified DOJ Legal Opinions released in May 2005. There are three memos from Bradbury to Rizzo on the list: (1) Re: Application of 18 U.S.C. 2340-2340A to Certain Techniques that May Be Used in the Interrogation of High ...
This cable includes the text of the January 28, 2003 DCI approved "Guidelines on Interrogations Conducted Pursuant to the Presidential Memorandum of Notification of 17 September 2001". The cable also asks that all personnel involved in ...
This cable states that the use of EITs requires that a psychological assessment of records, made only by a staff psychologist be completed about the proposed subject before techniques are authorized, and that psychological interrogation ...
This cable provides formal authorization to proceed with portions of the next phase of Abu Zubaydah's interrogation, which include "more aggressive techniques" in order to obtain information, that the interrogation team concludes he is ...
This CIA cable discusses the strategy for the post-isolation phase of the Abu Zubaydah interrogation and provides details on Abu Zubaydah's current status. The cable notes that the post-isolation strategy may include time in the "confinement ...
This National Security Council memo discusses the use of the CIA's proposed EITs in the interrogation of high-value al Qaeda detainees. The memo divides the proposed EITs into two categories, "conditioning" and "corrective" and concludes that ...
This legal memorandum from John Yoo to Alberto Gonzales addresses treaties and laws applicable to the conflict in Afghanistan and the treatment of persons captured by U.S. armed forces. The memorandum concludes that these treaties do not protect ...
The September 2004 memorandum from Daniel Levin to the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General provides an update on the status of interrogation advice. The memo includes previously given and current/pending advice for the CIA and DOD.
This legal memorandum from Steven Bradbury to John Rizzo examines the application of the War Crimes Act, the Detainee Treatment Act, and Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions to certain techniques that may be used by the CIA to interrogate ...
This legal memorandum from Steven Bradbury to John Rizzo analyzes whether particular conditions of detention at certain CIA facilities overseas are consistent with the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005. The memorandum concludes that conditions at ...
This July 22, 2004 letter from Daniel Levin to Scott Muller asks Muller to provide a "precise description" of the waterboard interrogation technique, so that the OLC can determine if it is consistent with 18 USC §§ 2340 and 2340A.
This memorandum from Steven Bradbury to John Rizzo analyzes whether certain enhanced interrogation techniques used by the CIA in the interrogation of high value al Qaeda detainees would violate US law under Article 16. The memorandum concludes ...
This memorandum from Steven Bradbury to John Rizzo examines whether certain interrogation techniques can be used in the interrogation of high value al-Qaeda detainees. The memorandum concludes that none of these specific techniques, considered ...
This June 10, 2004 letter from Jack Goldsmith to Scott Muller is a response to Muller's March 2, 2004 letter asking Goldsmith to "reaffirm" bullet points entitled "Legal Principles Applicable to CIA Detention and Interrogation of Captured ...
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.
This document is a letter from Daniel Levin to John Rizzo stating that the use of twelve interrogation techniques in the interrogation of Sharif al-Masri will not violate the U.S. constitution, statute, or other treaty obligation. Levin says ...
This Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) report was written in response to public debate over Jay Bybee's leaked memo titled "Standards of Conduct for Interrogation under 18 U.S.C. §§ 2340-2340A", which was replaced soon after by Daniel ...
This January 15, 2009 OLC memo from Steven Bradbury discusses the reasons for the withdrawal of nine OLC memos that were issued in the aftermath of 9/11, specifically why the propositions in these memos are not consistent with the current views ...
An OLC memo from Bradbury to Rizzo addressing whether the combined use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" (including waterboarding) violates the prohibition on torture. The memo concludes that it would not violate the torture statute if used ...
This February 7, 2002 OLC memo from Jay Bybee finds that the President has "reasonable factual grounds" to determine that no members of the Taliban militia are entitled prisoner of war status under Article 4 of the third Geneva Convention (1949).
An OLC memo to the CIA addressing whether the use of four enhanced techniques, "dietary manipulation, nudity, water dousing, and abdominal slaps," in the interrogation of [redacted] would violate the law. The letter concludes that use of the ...
This letter from Levin to Rizzo addresses the use of waterboarding on a specific detainee. It concludes that "although it is a close and difficult question, the use of the waterboard technique in the contemplated interrogation of [redacted] ...
In the letter to Acting CIA Director McLaughlin, Attorney General Ashcroft confirms his advice that the use of certain interrogation techniques (other than waterboarding) in the interrogation of a particular detainee outside territory subject to ...
This June 11, 2009 OLC memo from David Barron states the withdrawal of an additional OLC opinion regarding CIA interrogation methods. The decision to withdraw was made in connection with the consideration of this opinion for possible public release.
This letter from Goldsmith to Muller addresses the use of interrogation techniques on a certain high-value detainee and is a follow-up to 2 previous memos approving 33 techniques (an OLC memo approved 9 and a memo from Secretary Rumsfeld approved ...
This April 15, 2009 OLC memo from David Barron states the withdrawal of four previous OLC opinions regarding CIA interrogation methods. The decision to withdraw the four opinions was made in connection with the consideration of these opinions for ...
This June 23, 2004 memo from Jack Goldsmith (OLC) to Scott W. Muller (General Counsel of the CIA) is a response to Muller's question of whether a redacted "terrorist operative" is a "protected person" and whether his [redacted] would violate the ...
This June 23, 2004 memo from Jack Goldsmith (OLC) to Scott W. Muller (General Counsel of the CIA) is a response to Muller's question of whether a redacted "terrorist operative" is a "protected person" and whether his [redacted] would violate the ...
This December 30, 2004 OLC memo from Daniel Levin interprets the federal criminal prohibition against torture. This memo supersedes the August 2002 memorandum ("Standards of Conduct under 18 U.S.C. §§ 2340–2340A") in its entirety.
This August 1, 2002 memo from John C. Yoo to Alberto Gonzales discusses standards of conduct for interrogations under the Torture Convention and under the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court.
An OLC memo from John Yoo to John Rizzo regarding "what is necessary to establish the crime of torture." The memo states that an individual must act with the "specific intent" to inflict severe mental pain or suffering to have committed torture, ...
This September 25, 2009 OLC memo from John Yoo finds that in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the President has the constitutional power to 1) retaliate against any person, organization, or state suspected of involvement in these attacks ...
This Jan. 22, 2002 memo from Jay Bybee (OLC) to Alberto R. Gonzales (Counsel to Pres. George W. Bush) and William H. Haynes II (General Counsel of the DOD) responds to a request for advice on the effect of the War Crimes Act and the Geneva ...