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 document is a cover letter to the ACLU enclosing 134 released pages for a FOIA request. The letter also identifies exemptions made in documents under the Freedom of Information/Privacy Acts (FOIPA), Title 5, United States Code, Section ...
A chain of six emails regarding a military defense investigator's request to the FBI's Counterterrorism Division for FBI emails about detainee abuse. The investigator had been appointed to work on the defense team for one of the Abu Gharib prison ...
A series of forwarded emails between FBI officials regarding the status of statements for a hearing. One email notes, "We do NOT do Miranda overseas generally--this is contrary to our policy right?"
A series of emails regarding whether hard copies of the FBI Legal Handbook have been issued to agents in the past years, or whether only digital issues have been issued. The emails also note that testimony before Congress should stress that ...
A letter from the House of Representatives to President George W. Bush informing him of their determination to investigate the prison abuses at Abu Gharib and elsewhere and to request his assistance in obtaining key documents. The letter includes ...
Series of emails dealing with responses to QFRs (Questions for the Record) following the Director of the FBI's testimony before the Senate Judiciary on 05/20/2004.
An email regarding allegations of misconduct against two FBI agents. During an interview with one of the agents, they stated that there were, "inhumane conditions at the Baghdad detention facility... Although I only personally observed this abuse ...
An email in reply to a received "'positive' response." The response reports that the FBI agent observed aggressive treatment of a detainee who appeared to have blood shot eyes and what appeared to be blood that congealed to his eyelashes.
A series of emails regarding a requested chronology of events relative to FBI involvement with the issue of treatment/mistreatment of detainees. The claimed goal of the document is to use it for "briefing the Hill when/if they ask for it."
This series of emails discusses constitutional issues overseas. One email notes that FBI personnel in the Iraq are gathering intelligence for military operations--not independent FBI operations. The same email asks a couple of questions: " If the ...
A series of emails regarding whether or not the FBI has updated its responses to a Congressional Question for the Record (QFR) regarding the FBI's involvement with and knowledge of detainee treatment.
The document is an internal FBI memorandum, regarding document information related to impersonation by Department of Defense interrogators at Guantanamo representing themselves to be official of the FBI and the U.S. State Department.
This document is a series of emails concerning interviews conducted by Brig. Gen. Furlow and Paul Zimmerman of USDOJ OIG regarding FBI agents and members of the military who may have witnessed detainee abuse.
This document is an email to FBI personnel informing them that DOJ OIG has begun an inquiry into abuses of detainees at GTMO, Abu Ghraib, and other U.S. military prisons. The message notes that Patrick Kelley is the point of contact for DOJ OIG. ...
This email outlines the procedure for processing accusations of abuse by detainees, confirming that the FBI turns over reports of detainee abuse to DoD, who are responsible for investigating.
This document is mostly redacted. The most substantive portion states that [Redacted] (OGC) (FBI) sent an unredacted copy of an email from 1/21/04 5:15 p.m. entitled "Subject: FWD: re: Impersonating FBI."
This document is an email in which two FBI officials discuss advice given on reading Miranda warnings to detainees overseas. Most of the document is redacted.
This document is a memo which mentions the Financial Privacy Act and the Buckley Amendment, healthcare fraud. It also mentions an upcoming meeting "to discuss whether WFO SAs may live in undercover properties."
This document contains several pages re. taking a "lessons learned" approach to agency work. Suggests that, prior to deployment overseas, the FBI should brief agents "regarding the Bureau's policy on presence during/assistance to (etc.) coercive ...
This document is a cover page of an FBI report regarding recommendations of the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) during the on-site review process at GTMO. The recommendations are based on the prediction that the operations at GTMO regarding the ...
This document is an email describing the allegations of a detainee (whose name is redacted). The detainee claims to have been abused by two FBI agents in Afghanistan who later came back to interrogate him in GTMO. Detainee claimed that the FBI ...
This document is an email describing the allegations of a detainee (whose name is redacted). The detainee claims to have been abused by two FBI agents in Afghanistan who later came back to interrogate him in GTMO. Detainee claimed that the FBI ...
This document is a memo in reference to a NCIS request for the FBI to release information on all people who have had interaction with two detainees who have alleged abuse at the hands of military personnel and their interpreters. The detainees' ...
This document is an email to redacted FBI officials seeking guidance regarding military request to interview Special Agents in the field in Afghanistan on detainee abuse and deaths. Patrick Kelley responds that National Security Law Branch is ...
This document is a cover letter to the ACLU enclosing 531 released pages for a FOIA request. The letter also identifies exemptions made in documents under the Freedom of Information/Privacy Acts (FOIPA), Title 5, United States Code, Section ...
A Vaughn Declaration from David Barron, OLC, relating to 171 OLC documents responsive to the ACLU's FOIA requests of October 7, 2003 and May 25, 2004. The government originally withheld 181 OLC documents in full, and Judge Hellerstein ...
A Vaughn Declaration from Wendy Hilton, CIA, relating to 171 OLC documents responsive to the ACLU's FOIA requests of October 7, 2003 and May 25, 2004. The government originally withheld 181 OLC documents in full, and Judge Hellerstein upheld ...
A Vaughn Index of 171 OLC documents responsive to the ACLU's FOIA requests of October 7, 2003 and May 25, 2004. The government originally withheld 181 OLC documents in full, and Judge Hellerstein upheld those withholdings. The ACLU appealed. ...
A Vaughn Declaration from Wendy Hilton, CIA, relating to documents from the files of the CIA Office of the Inspector General (OIG) responsive to the ACLU's FOIA requests of October 7, 2003 and May 25, 2004. The government originally withheld ...
A Vaughn index describing documents from the files of the CIA Office of the Inspector General (OIG) responsive to the ACLU's FOIA requests of October 7, 2003 and May 25, 2004. The government originally withheld all of the CIA OIG documents in ...
An OLC memo addressing whether the CIA may use 6 "enhanced interrogation techniques" in the interrogation of high value detainees: (1) dietary manipulation, (2) extended sleep deprivation, (3) facial hold, (4) attention grasp, (5) ...
An OLC memo from Steven Bradbury to John Rizzo analyzing whether certain conditions of confinement used by the CIA in covert overseas facilities are consistent with Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. The conditions are: (1) ...
A letter providing legal advice regarding whether the conditions of detention at certain oversears CIA facilities are consistent with the applicable standards of the DTA. It concludes that the conditions of confinement did not constitute ...
A letter from the OLC providing legal advice regarding the continued use of sleep deprivation on a detainee. It concludes that continued use would be consistent with all applicable law, and that "the continuation of the technique ...
A letter from the OLC providing legal advice regarding the continued use of sleep deprivation on a detainee. It concludes that continued use would be consistent with all applicable law, and that "the continuation of the ...
A letter from the OLC providing legal advice regarding the continued use of sleep deprivation on a detainee. It concludes that continued use would be consistent with all applicable law, and that "the continuation of the technique … ...
A draft psychological assessment of Abu Zubaydah faxed to John Yoo from the CIA. The assessment provides background information ("for at least a decade, subject has lived and worked within an environment that has condoned, nurtured, ...
This memo on confinement conditions for CIA detainees is divided into sections: 1) minimums; 2) implementing procedures; 3) responsible CIA officer; 4) [redacted]. An acknowledgment form/waiver is attached. [OLC Vaughn Index #11]
This CIA memo provides guidelines on interrogations of detainees, Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters. The memo is divided into the following sections: 1) Permissible Interrogation Techniques; 2) Medical and Psychological Personnel; 3) Interrogation ...
