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
May 17, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3994
This State Department memo gives the State Dept.'s official position on the question of detainees/ Geneva Conventions: the Geneva Conventions apply to the conflict w/ Al Qaeda but not with the Taliban; Neither Al-Qaeda nor Taliban detainees have ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Alberto R. Gonzales, Colin L. Powell, William Howard Taft, IV
May 17, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4115
Emails between State Department Officials concerning "issues surrounding abuse of Iraqi detainees". the additional comments are "Did one of you already "rope in" Ed Cummings, as discussed? Thanks, Judy"
Dec. 30, 2004
Email
Russell K. LaMotte
Joshua L. Dorosin | Judith L. Osborn
Russell K. LaMotte, Judith L. Osborn, Joshua L. Dorosin, Todd F. Buchwald, Samuel M. Witten, Marianne J. Hata , Edward R. Cummings, Catherine W. Brown, Barton C. Legum, Curtis A. Bradley, Susan Biniaz
May 17, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4280
Email from Cheryl parker re: International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) Presses on Hidden Detainees, Coalition Detention Facilities and the "Bagram Four'.
Dec. 17, 2004
Email
Cheryl L. Parker
Cheryl L. Parker
May 17, 2004 | NSC | ACLU-RDI 4281
Email between Torkel Patterson, and William B. Taylor forwarding an email from Thomas Fingar concerning a call from a Los Angeles Times reporter, Greg Miller, that Mr. Miller received a tip that "someone in the Department who does Central Asia ...
Dec. 17, 2004
Email
Torkel L. Patterson
William B. Taylor
Torkel L. Patterson, William B. Taylor, Charles Thomas Fingar, Richard A. Boucher, Jennifer C. Noyon
May 17, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4628
Emails between DOS Officials briefly discussing an Indian citizen custody at Abu Ghraib and email forward of an Associated Press article discussing the release of Saddam Hussein from U.S. control to Iraq control.
Nov. 23, 2004
Email
Aaron M. Cope
Aaron W. Jost | James P. Seevers | Nicholas J. Dean
Frank E. Schmelzer , Aaron M. Cope , Aaron W. Jost, James P. Seevers , Nicholas J. Dean, Brian T. Neubert, John R. Waters, Cara L. Abercrombie
May 17, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4632
Email discusses the detention of Jordanian's in Iraq. It mentions that the Jordanian Parliament alleged that more than 1000 Jordanians were in Coalition custody in Iraq, whereas the Jordan Ministry of Foreign Affairs believed 19 Jordanians were ...
Nov. 23, 2004
Email
Stephanie T. Williams, Aaron W. Jost, Mikael C. McCowan, Richard G. Olson, Edward Gnehm, Colin L. Powell
May 16, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 2436
DOD memo on the military’s on the need to be sensitive and aware of the importance of preserving good relations with the local Afghani population and joint military persons while operating in Afghanistan. It stresses the need to maintain good ...
June 30, 2006
Non-legal Memo
David W. Barno
David W. Barno
May 16, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4055
Emails discuss a news article and a Meet the Press interview. The original email states "Newsweek reports that they have obtained a series of OLC memos from the fall of 2001 forward, quotes a State Department lawyer as saying "we were horrified" ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Email
JoAnn J. Dolan
JoAnn J. Dolan | Edward R. Cummings | Todd F. Buchwald | James H. Thessin
JoAnn J. Dolan, Edward R. Cummings, Todd F. Buchwald, James H. Thessin, Alberto R. Gonzales, Colin L. Powell, William Howard Taft, IV, John C. Yoo
May 15, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 486
Email concerns the training of Military Police on detainee treatment and handling. It includes a discussion of the inclusion of Geneva Convention and focuses the requirement for humane treatment of all prisoners at all times as specified under ...
Mar. 23, 2005
Email
Julian H. Burns, James L. Terry, Antonio Taguba, Thomas G. Miller, Dan M. Colglazier, Raymond D. Barrett, Jr, James A. Marks, David D. McKiernan
May 15, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 774
Interviewee was assigned to AG as the deputy commander for Joint Interrogation Debriefing Center. Recalled telling COL Pappas of the OGA's activities, they would drop off detainees without prior notice, would not let the interviewee and others ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Transcript)
Thomas Pappas, Geoffrey D. Miller, Ricardo Sanchez, Barbara G. Fast
Use of phobias, Other