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 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, ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
A heavily redacted version of a report authored by the CIA's Office of the Inspector General. The report was later released in less-redacted form. It discusses the CIA's use of the "enhanced interrogation techniques," ...
A heavily redacted summary of an interview by the CIA's Office of the Inspector General, of Scott W. Muller, the CIA's general counsel. The interview summary discusses viewing videotapes, the approval of waterboarding during the interrogation ...
A heavily redacted cable from the field to CIA headquarters relating to the status of Abu Zubaydah. The unredated portions refer to the waterboarding of Abu Zubaydah.
A heavily redacted memorandum from the Deputy Director of Central Intelligence to the Deputy Director for Operations, the DCI Counterterrorist Center, and Senior Deputy General Counsel re the Interrogation of Abu Zabaydah.
DOJ letter regarding ACLU, et al., v. Department of Defense, et al., which states that the CIA has re-reviewed documents concerning waterboarding and produced redacted versions of some of those documents. Letter also mentions that on May 12, ...
Heavily redacted memo from DCI to Nat'l Sec. Advisor (4pgs) and memo from GC to DCI (1pg) with routers. Refers to DOJ's 2002 authorization for the CIA to employ certain techniques on certain high-value detainees (HVDs), and mentions waterboarding.
(A CIA affidavit states that this was a 1-page memo dated Aug. 4, 2004 from CIA to OLC and that it contained "communications from the CIA to OLC on a matter in which the CIA requested legal advice from OLC.") The document ...
This is a heavily redacted version of an OLC memo later released in less-redacted form (at ACLU-RDI 4548). This unredacted portions of this version of the memo from the OLC to the CIA discuss the anti-torture statute 18 U.S.C. 2340, ...
Letter from Margaret P. Grafeld, DOS to Amrit Singh, ACLU re: the ACLU's FOIA Request. Letter states that the document production requested is being complied with in some parts and denied or withheld in part.
Letter from Margaret P. Grafeld, DOS to Amrit Singh, ACLU re: the ACLU's FOIA Request. Letter states that the document production requested is being complied with in some parts and denied or withheld in part.
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 ...
Letter from Margaret P. Grafeld, DOS to Amrit Singh, ACLU re: the ACLU's FOIA Request. Letter states that the document production requested is being complied with in some parts and denied or withheld in part.
State Department email from Nicholas Miscione concerning the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) request to visit the detainees held in Afghanistan. No attachment included.
Letter from Margaret P. Grafeld, DOS to Amrit Singh, ACLU re: the ACLU's FOIA Request. Letter states that the document production requested is being complied with in some parts and denied or withheld in part.
State Department memo re: Detainees: Policy and Status. Completely redacted except for "Abu Ghraib: Multiple DoD investigations are currently underway. To date, one of the seven soldiers originally accused of crimes has faced a Special Court ...
Letter from Margaret P. Grafeld, DOS to Amrit Singh, ACLU re: the ACLU's FOIA Request. Letter states that the document production requested is being complied with in some parts and denied or withheld in part.
Emails between State Department officials concerning the Ban\gram detainees and the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) interest in visiting them in at the Bagram Detention Center in Afghanistan.
Letter from Margaret P. Grafeld, DOS to Amrit Singh, ACLU re: the ACLU's FOIA Request. Letter states that the document production requested is being complied with in some parts and denied or withheld in part.
This cable address questions and concerns over the visiting, the status and treatment of Guantanamo detainees. The memo states that the detainees are illegal combatants, and not Prisoners of War (POWs). It states Al Qaeda is a foreign terrorist ...
Letter from Margaret P. Grafeld, DOS to Amrit Singh, ACLU re: the ACLU's FOIA Request. Letter states that the document production requested is being complied with in some parts and denied or withheld in part.
Letter from Margaret P. Grafeld, DOS to Amrit Singh, ACLU re: the ACLU's FOIA Request. The letter states that the document production requested is being complied with in some parts and denied or withheld in part.
Letter from David N. Kelley, U.S. Attorney, DOJ to Lawrence S. Lustberg, Megan Lewis, Gibbons, Del Deo, Dolan, Griffinger & Vecchione, P.C., attorneys for the ACLU re: the ACLU's FOIA Request (ACLU, et al., v. Department of Defense, et al., No. ...
Letter from Margaret P. Grafeld, DOS to Amrit Singh, ACLU re: the ACLU's FOIA Request. Letter states that the document production requested is being complied with in some parts and denied or withheld in part.
Letter from Margaret P. Grafeld, DOS to Amrit Singh, ACLU re: the ACLU's FOIA Request. The letter states that the document production requested is being complied with in some parts and denied or withheld in part.
Email requesting input on an attached paper. the comments from Ms. Holman are "Joann: How is the BM on PC Meeting on Detainees coming. This is just remember that it is due today at 3. Thanks, Beverly Holman."
Email asks for a response to request for guidance regarding Department response to International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) report. Contents completely redacted.
Email requests clearance for a Q & A on Detainee Issues. the commeents from Ms. Abercrombie is "All, the attached Q&A is 99% the same as one cleared last week. Please review and clear by 1200 tomorrow. This is for D's briefing to the SASC on ...
State Department emails between JoAnn Dolan, James H. Thessin, Todd Buchwald, Waldo Brooks and Others re: Secretary's Meeting with International Red Cross (ICRC) President Kellenberger.
This email exchange between State Department officials concerns an upcoming meeting to address the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) report on detainees.
Letter from Margaret P. Grafeld, DOS to Amrit Singh, ACLU re: the ACLU's FOIA Request. The letter states that the document production requested is being complied with in some parts and denied or withheld in part.