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)

Report by NCIS of an investigation into claims by Moazzem Begg that he was physically abused and threatened with sexual assault and rendition to Egypt while in Kandahar and Bagram.
This summary of an interview completed by the U.S. Naval Criminal investigative Service with Guantanamo Bay detainee, Moazaam Begg, was released by the Department of Defense Office of the General Counsel; the DOD's release letter to the ACLU is ...
Apr. 08, 2009
Interview (Summaries/Notes)
Moazzam Begg
Physical assault, General, Face slap or insult slap, Sexual, Threat, Rendition, Use of electricity
A DOJ-OIG questionnaire for FBI personnel who were involved in detainee interview or interrogations at assigned locations in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Iraq; Afghanistan; or in other areas controlled by the U.S. Military. Questionnaire primarily ...
A DOJ-OIG questionnaire for FBI personnel who were involved in detainee interview or interrogations at assigned locations in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Iraq; Afghanistan; or in other areas controlled by the U.S. Military. Questionnaire primarily ...
A DOJ-OIG questionnaire for FBI personnel who were involved in detainee interview or interrogations at assigned locations in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Iraq; Afghanistan; or in other areas controlled by the U.S. Military. Questionnaire primarily ...
Apr. 03, 2009
Interview (Questionnaire)
Physical assault, General, Threat, Assault/death, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound
A DOJ-OIG questionnaire for FBI personnel who were involved in detainee interview or interrogations at assigned locations in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Iraq; Afghanistan; or in other areas controlled by the U.S. Military. Questionnaire primarily ...
A DOJ-OIG questionnaire for FBI personnel who were involved in detainee interview or interrogations at assigned locations in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Iraq; Afghanistan; or in other areas controlled by the U.S. Military. Questionnaire primarily ...
Apr. 03, 2009
Interview (Questionnaire)
Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound
A DOJ-OIG questionnaire for FBI personnel who were involved in detainee interview or interrogations at assigned locations in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Iraq; Afghanistan; or in other areas controlled by the U.S. Military. Questionnaire primarily ...
A DOJ-OIG questionnaire for FBI personnel who were involved in detainee interview or interrogations at assigned locations in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Iraq; Afghanistan; or in other areas controlled by the U.S. Military. Questionnaire primarily ...
Apr. 03, 2009
Interview (Questionnaire)
Threat, Family/others, Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Hooding/Goggling
A DOJ-OIG questionnaire for FBI personnel who were involved in detainee interview or interrogations at assigned locations in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Iraq; Afghanistan; or in other areas controlled by the U.S. Military. Questionnaire primarily ...
Apr. 03, 2009
Interview (Questionnaire)
Physical assault, General, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Other
A DOJ-OIG questionnaire for FBI personnel who were involved in detainee interview or interrogations at assigned locations in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Iraq; Afghanistan; or in other areas controlled by the U.S. Military. Questionnaire primarily ...
A DOJ-OIG questionnaire for FBI personnel who were involved in detainee interview or interrogations at assigned locations in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Iraq; Afghanistan; or in other areas controlled by the U.S. Military. Questionnaire primarily ...
Apr. 03, 2009
Interview (Questionnaire)
Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Other
A DOJ-OIG questionnaire for FBI personnel who were involved in detainee interview or interrogations at assigned locations in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Iraq; Afghanistan; or in other areas controlled by the U.S. Military. Questionnaire primarily ...
Apr. 03, 2009
Interview (Questionnaire)
Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Forced physical training, Other
A DOJ-OIG questionnaire for FBI personnel who were involved in detainee interview or interrogations at assigned locations in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Iraq; Afghanistan; or in other areas controlled by the U.S. Military. Questionnaire primarily ...
Apr. 03, 2009
Interview (Questionnaire)
Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Other
Letter from the Department of Justice to Judge Hellerstein proposing a schedule of production for certain Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) documents to be provided to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The letter addresses the issues of; ...
Mar. 06, 2009
Letter, Judicial
Lev L. Dassin | Sean H. Lane | Peter M. Skinner
Alvin K. Hellerstein
Sean H. Lane, Peter M. Skinner, Lev L. Dassin, John H. Durham, Alvin K. Hellerstein
This Department of Justice production pursuant to ACLU v. DOD, No. 1:04-CV-4151 (S.D.N.Y.). The list is of videotapes that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) either had or has in its possession and are either available or destroyed.

Page 36 of the CIA Inspector General's Special Review of the CIA's interrogation program.  The page describes the interrogation videotapes destroyed by the CIA on November 9, 2005.  The page was produced to the ACLU as part of the ...

Mar. 06, 2009
Oversight Report
John L. Helgerson
EIT, Waterboarding, Use of water

The memo discusses whether a change to the FISA law would render it unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment. Specifically it considers and concludes that changing the law from requiring that foreign intelligence gathering be “the ...

Mar. 02, 2009
Legal Memo
John C. Yoo
David S. Kris
John C. Yoo, David S. Kris

This memo considers the use of military force to prevent or deter terrorist activity domestically and concludes that, “the President has both constitutional and statutory authority to use the armed forces in military operations, against ...

A memo from John Yoo to John Bellinger analyzing whether the President may suspend certain articles of the ABM treaty.  The concludes that in both cases proposed, the president may suspend the articles.

Mar. 02, 2009
Legal Memo
John C. Yoo | Robert J. Delahunty
John Bellinger
John C. Yoo, John B. Bellinger, III, Robert J. Delahunty

An OLC memo concluding that, “the President has plenary constitutional authority, as the commander in chief, to transfer such individuals who are held and captured outside the United States to the control of another country.” ...

An OLC memo concluding that Congress cannot interfere with the President's exercise of his authority as Commander in Chief to control the conduct of operations during war, including his authority to promulgate rules to regulate military ...

Mar. 02, 2009
Legal Memo
Patrick Philbin
Daniel J. Bryant
Patrick Philbin, Daniel J. Bryant, John C. Yoo

An OLC memo concluding that “the military has the legal authority to detain [Jose Padilla] as a prisoner captured during an international armed conflict,” and that the Posse Comitatus Act poses no bar.

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 ...

An OLC memo advising “that caution should be exercised before relying in any respect” on John C. Yoo’s October 23, 2001 memo, Authority for Use of Military Force to Combat Terrorist Activities Within the United States. ...

Mar. 02, 2009
Legal Memo
Steven G. Bradbury
Steven G. Bradbury, John C. Yoo, Alberto R. Gonzales, William J. Haynes, II, Robert J. Delahunty

An OLC memo stating that "the purpose of this memorandum is to confirm that certain propositions stated in several opinions issued by the Office of Legal Counsel in 2001-2003 respecting the allocation of authorities between the President ...

A letter from the DOJ to Judge Hellerstein regarding the CIA's destruction of interrogation videotapes and the ACLU's motion to hold the CIA in contempt for that destruction.

Mar. 02, 2009
Letter, Judicial
Lev L. Dassin | Sean H. Lane | Peter M. Skinner
Alvin K. Hellerstein
John H. Durham, Sean H. Lane, Peter M. Skinner, Lev L. Dassin, Alvin K. Hellerstein
This memo from John C. Yoo, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, to the President of the American Bar Association provides the legal justification for the treatment of U.S. Civilians as Enemy Combatants, specifically regarding their lack of right ...
Jan. 07, 2009
Non-legal Memo
John C. Yoo
William J. Haynes, II
Robert Hirshon , Alfred P. Carlton Jr.
CID investigation into the death of a detainee, Major General (MG) Abed Hamed Mowhoush. MG Mowhoush was interrogated by U.S. personnel on November 24 and 26, 2003. The names of the interrogators are redacted (except for Staff Sgt. Aaron N. ...
Nov. 10, 2008
Investigative File (CID)
Abed Hamed Mowhoush
Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Other
This is the Autopsy Report & Death Certificate of Abd Al-Rahman M. Al-Umari a detainee at Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility. It is reported that Mr. Al-Rahman committed suicide by hanging himself in his cell. The Report states that CPR & other ...
Nov. 10, 2008
Medical (Autopsy, Death Certificate)
Abd Al-Rahman M. Al-Umari
This is the Autopsy Report & Death Certificate for Abdul Razzak, a detainee at Guantanamo Bay Detention facility, Cuba. The Report states that Mr. Razzak succumbed to organ failure complicating metastatic colon cancer. The Report further found ...
Nov. 10, 2008
Medical (Autopsy, Death Certificate)
Abdul Razzaq Hekmati

This document contains several Court-Martial following an investigation into the deaths of two (2) detainees at the Bagram Control Point (BCP) in Bagram, Afghanistan. Both detainees were determined to have been killed by blood clots that were ...

Nov. 05, 2008
Investigative File (CID), UCMJ (Court-Martial)
Habibullah, Dilawar
Physical assault, General
This report investigates alleged the Homicide or Involuntary Manslaughter of a detainee, Dilar Dababa, by U.S. Forces. On the evening of June 12, 2003, Dababa was captured by Coalition Forces and transported to Baghdad International Airport ...
Nov. 05, 2008
Investigative File (CID)
Dilar Dababa
General, Forced physical training, Physical assault

An investigation into alleged aggravated assault, cruelty, and maltreatment of an Iraqi prisoner by U.S. forces.  The detainee stated that he was held at the "Disco" (a detention facility in Mosul, Iraq) for approximately one ...

This CID Report investigates numerous allegations of abuse that occurred in September and November of 2003 in Iraq’s Abu Ghraib Prison. Included in the file is the testimony of detainee victims and members of the 372nd Military Police ...

See above (this doc is part two of two part document)
This document is a Department of Defense (DOD) Memo discussing the apparent suicide of three (3) Guantanamo Bay detainees on June 10, 2006. The detainees: Yasser Al Zahrani, Mana Shaman Allabardi Al Tabi and Ali Abdullah Ahmed apparently took ...
Nov. 03, 2008
Non-legal Memo
Yasser Al Zahrani, Ali Abdullah Ahmed, Mana Shaman Allabardi Al Tabi
CID investigation into allegations of prisoner maltreatment/abuse at Camp Cropper, Iraq. The investigation established probable cause to believe that eleven (11) members of the Military Police assigned to Camp Cropper engaged in cruelty and ...
This CID investigation concerns an allegation of a face slap upon an Iraqi detainee held in custody between June 14th and 20th, 2003. The Iraqi alleges that during his interrogation an Egyptian interpreter slapped him with a sandal, punched him, ...
Oct. 01, 2008
Investigative File (CID)
Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap
This CID investigation concerns an allegation of a assault upon a detainee while at Baghdad International Airport (BIAP). Detainee alleged that he was assaulted by a black man dressed in an army uniform and was "slapped around" for ten (10) days ...
Oct. 01, 2008
Investigative File (CID)
Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, General, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling
This CID investigation concerns an allegation of an assault upon a detainee while at FOB Headhunter. The detainee alleges that after he was captured he was hooded, was struck about the head and body by fists and kicked. He also stated he was hit ...
Oct. 01, 2008
Investigative File (CID), Photograph
Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, General, Threat, Assault/death

This CID investigation relates to allegations of prisoner maltreatment and abuse by an Iraqi individual captured on July 22, 2004. The detainee alleges he was abused by members of the CIA while being held in a small room at an unknown location ...

Oct. 01, 2008
Investigative File (CID), Photograph
Physical assault, Threat, Assault/death
This CID investigation into claims made by three Iranian detainees alleging they knew of a fellow Iranian being murdered at Airbase H3, Iraq. They allege the murder took place while they were being detained and interrogated by Coalition Forces. ...
CID investigation into the death of a detainee, Manadel Al-Jamadi. Mr. Al-Jamadi was captured on Nov. 4, 2003 by members of U.S. Navy Seal Team Seven (ST-7), who located Mr. Al-Jamadi at his residence south of Baghdad, Iraq. Mr. Al-Jamadi ...
Oct. 01, 2008
Investigative File (CID)
Manadel Al-Jamadi
Physical assault, Stomach/abdominal slap, Other
On 24 Dec 2003 American forces raided a house in the Slaikh Alrabee neighborhood of Baghdad. The men inside were taken in to custody with blindfolds and cuffed behind their backs. The men allege that during their arrest they were abused by being ...
This is the Autopsy Report & Death Certificate for Ali Abdullah Ahmed, a 21 year old Yeminis male being held at Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility, Cuba. Mr. Ahmed, along with Mana Shaman Allabardi Al Tabi and Ali Yasser Talal al Zahrani each ...
Aug. 28, 2008
Medical (Autopsy, Death Certificate)
Ali Abdullah Ahmed
This is an NCIS investigation of the apparent suicide deaths of three Guantanamo Bay detainees on June 10, 2009. The Detainees: Yasser Al Zahrani; Mana Shaman Allabardi Al Tabi; and Ali Abdullah Ahmed each apparently took their own lives by ...
Aug. 28, 2008
Investigative File (NCIS)
Yasser Al Zahrani, Ali Abdullah Ahmed, Mana Shaman Allabardi Al Tabi

This is a heavily redacted version of a CIA memo later released in less-redacted form.  The less-redacted version is available at ACLU-RDI 4562.  This version of the document shows that CIA interrogators were permitted to use both ...

July 24, 2008
Non-legal Memo
George Tenet
George J. Tenet
EIT