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
June 25, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 6689
This cable describes a redacted detainee's behavior in the seventh day of a three week isolation phase.
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
Isolation
June 26, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3811
State Department Routing and Transmittal Slip cover sheet from Paul Wohlers to Alex, Colonel James A. Whitmore, subject Harty/Whitmore Memorandum Requesting Permission for Team to Visit Detainees on Guantanamo. No attachment.
Dec. 30, 2004
Letter
Paul Wohlers
James A. Whitmore
James A. Whitmore
June 26, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3818
Fax cover letter, regarding a memo to Colonel James A. Whitmore seeking permission for an unidentified team to visit detainees at Guantanamo. [Memo is not included].
Dec. 30, 2004
Letter
Dan B. Smith
James A. Whitmore
Daniel B. Smith, James A. Whitmore, Harry R. Melone
June 26, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 6697
This cable describes a redacted detainee's behavior on the eighth day of a three week isolation phase.
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
Isolation
June 27, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4243
State Department cable regarding an inquiry by UK Member of parliament Davies concerning a British citizen being held at Guantanamo Bay. The response is that all the detainees are being held in humane conditions; the ICRC has access and visits ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Cable
Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell, Brent E. Blaschke
June 27, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4436
Email from JoAnn Dolan to State Department officials to address questions that may arise concerning the Guantanamo detainees. The guidance states that all the detainees are being treated humanely and in accordance with the Geneva Conventions, ...
Jan. 12, 2005
Email
JoAnn J. Dolan
Jonathan J. Carpenter | Pierre-Richard Prosper
JoAnn J. Dolan
June 27, 2002 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 4545

An OLC memo concluding that the “the President’s authority to detain enemy combatants, including U.S. citizens, is based on his constitutional authority as Commander in Chief” and that the Non-Detention Act cannot interfere ...

Mar. 02, 2009
Legal Memo
John C. Yoo
Daniel J. Bryant
John C. Yoo, Daniel J. Bryant, Timothy E. Flanigan, William J. Haynes, II, Jay S. Bybee, Jennifer K. Elsea, Patrick Philbin, Abner J. Mikva
Jose Padilla
June 27, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 6698
This cable describes a redacted detainee's behavior in the ninth day of a three week isolation phase.
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
Isolation
June 28, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 6699
This cable describes a redacted detainee's behavior on the tenth day of a three week isolation phase.
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
Isolation
June 29, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 6700
This cable describes a redacted detainee's behavior on the eleventh day of a three week isolation phase.
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
Isolation