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 is a press release by the White House concerning the application of the Geneva Conventions to foreign fighters captured in the War on Terror and held in Guantanamo. This is a verbatim account of a press conference as part of the White House ...
Emanl from Ed Cummings concerning the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) going to Guantanamo to meet with the detainees. the comments are: FYI: I called last night (Wed.) with three questions I He indicated that at the meeting last ...
Email from JoAnn Dolan forwarding an email from the London mission from containing a letter from an attorney representing a detainee held at Guantanamo. The email from Ms. Dolan to Ms. Davidson is redacted, but the letter attached below.
This document is a cover page for an underlying document. It indicates whether the underlying document requires a signature from Paul Kelly. No indication as to what the underlying document is.
This Letter from Senator Jeff Bingaman, (D-NM) is an inquiry to State Department Under Secretary for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky concerning a Washington Post article published on December 26, 2002 which described U.S. interrogation methods ...
This document is a request by Rep. Ike Skelton to the State Department Subject: Requesting when the Department was advised of the February 2004 report of the International Committee of the Red Cross on the mistreatment of the detainees in Iraq
This State Department document is a point-by-point response to an opinion (not enclosed) by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the United Nations former Commission on Human Rights, to the U.S. detention of Al Qaeda operatives and others ...
This State Department letter is from Paul V. Kelly, Assistant Secretary Legal Affairs, DOS to Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)concerning an article in the Washington Post dated December 26, 2002 concerning U.S. interrogation methods. Mr. Kelly is ...
Congressional Correspondence Clearance: Senator Bingaman requesting a copy of a Washington Post article dated December 26, 2002 concerning methods used by the U.S. to obtain information from persons it has detained.
This email is a forward of a July 4, 2004 article in the New York Times entitled "Officials Detail A Detainee Deal By 3 Countries" which makes the claim that the U.S. released certain detainees from Guantanamo in consideration fro ...
This State Department memo appears to be a set of talking points to respond to possible questions relating to Guantanamo. The memo discusses the classification of detainees and explains why the Al-Qaida and Taliban detainees do not qualify for ...
Letter from David N. Kelley, DOJ, to Lawrence S. Lustberg, of Gibbons, Del Deo, Dolan, Griffinger & Vecchione, P.C., attorneys for the ACLU re: the ACLU's FOIA Request. The letter states that the document production requested is being complied ...
This memo discusses the inordinate strain that has been placed on U.S. military resources due to the detention of enemy combatants. The memo briefly explains that other coalition members should be willing to bear a portion of the burden as they ...
DOS Note discussing letters sent by UN Rapporteurs asking for explanations regarding allegations of torture at detention facilities in Iraq. Refers to one letter that discusses the detention of four Iraqis allegedly being held incommunicado in Basra.
Letter from Tausif Paracha, U.S. citizen, to Colin L. Powell regarding the detainment of his/her uncle, Saifullah Paracha. Mr. Paracha was taken into custody on July 5th by U.S. soldiers and according to a letter sent by the International ...
Letter from International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) to Mike McKinley, Deputy Assistant U.S. Secretary of State re: Persons Detained in Afghanistan. The letter states "Dear Mike: Enclosed is an ICRC Verbal Note concerning the situation of ...
Emails between DOS Officials discussing the death of an Egyptian scientist, Mohamed Abdel Moneim Al-Azmeerly, who was killed while in U.S. custody at Abu Ghraib. Joel M. Rubin wrote that there was not much discussion in Egypt on Al-Azmeerly's ...
Email from a DOS Official to DOJ Officials. The email includes a New York Times article, which discusses the Justice Department's investigation into the CIA and their contractors for their possible involvement in the death of three detainees, one ...
Emails between DOS Officials regarding detainees at Abu Ghraib (AG). The more recent email discusses an Israeli national, George Ben-Baki, who is believed to be a detainee at AG, however, the officials are unsure and awaiting confirmation from ...
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 ...
Emails between DOS Officials discussing the death of an Egyptian scientist, Mohamed Abdel Moneim Al-Azmeerly, who was killed while in U.S. custody at Abu Ghraib. There is concern that the death of Al-Azmeerly will gain publicity in Egypt and ...
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.
Emails between DOS Officials discussing the death of an Egyptian scientist, Mohamed Abdel Moneim Al-Azmeerly, who was killed while in U.S. custody at Abu Ghraib.
This State Department cable provides insight on a trip to Baghdad, Iraq by President of the International Committee for the Red Cross Kellenberger. Mr. Kellenberger privately shared his impressions of the situation in Iraq with U.S. Ambassador ...
This is a State Department talking points memo on how to address the issues of detainees and detainee abuse. It references speeches and interviews that President Bush and other administration officials have given to describe and give context as ...
This state Department cable is a redacted page with no context or information. It shows the U.S. DOS locations it is intended for, but no other text or information.
This State department cable concerns a meeting between Amb. Pierre-Richard Prosper and Jakob Kellenberger, President of the International Committee for the Red Cross. The discussion focused on detention issues regarding Guantanamo, Iraq, and ...
This letter is from William H. Taft, IV, State Department Legal Adviser, to Christophe Girod, the Head of Delegation of the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) concerning the U.S. transfer of Russian nationals from Guantanamo to ...
This State Department cable is a synopsis of a meeting held at Sec. of State Powell's offices on January 15, 2004. The meeting was attended by: Sec. of State Powell; A/S Arthur E. Dewey; Craig Kelly; JoAnn Dolan and Carrie Santos on the U.S. ...
Heavily redacted description of the interrogation of Al-Nashiri, nearly identical (if not in fact identical) to ACLU-RDI 4614, but with fewer redactions. [OIG Remand Vaughn #Email-196]
This State Department Cable is entitled "Subject: Secretary's May 6, 2004, Conversation with ICRC (International Committee for the Red Cross) President Jakob Kellenberger". There is no other discernible information or context.
This letter is from William H. Taft, IV of the State Department to Jakob Kellnberger, President of the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) concerning an Opinion Editorial a member of the ICRC's legal staff wrote for the Financial ...
This draft psychological assessment of Abu Zubaydah discusses his background, personality, emotional and mental skills, strengths, motivations, and future worldview, among other things. The document refers to the use of "initial ...
Memorandum for the record regarding a meeting with a senior CIA officer about the detention and interrogation program of the CIA. The unredacted portions of the document primarily discuss the alleged effectiveness of the program. [REDACTED] ...
This CIA documents is a draft psychological assessment of Abu Zubaydah, discussing his background, personality, emotional and mental skills, strengths, motivations, and future worldview, among other things. The document is very similar to file ...
Aug. 24, 2009
Non-legal Memo, Medical (Psychological) Abu Zubaydah
This May 7, 2004 Special Review by the CIA’s Office of the Inspector General examines the CIA’s counterterrorism detention and interrogation activities, including the apparently unauthorized use of mock executions, a hand gun, a ...
Lengthy, but almost entirely redacted, document that apparently discusses the CIA’s detention and interrogation program for “high value targets.” The document provides some detail regarding the “standard” and ...
The Vaughn declaration of CIA Director Leon Panetta, discussing CIA records that describe the contents of the videotapes destroyed by the CIA. The declaration notes that the records primarily concern the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah and ...
The CIA's Vaughn Index of records describing the contents of the interrogation videotapes destroyed by the CIA. This Index was attached to Leon Panetta's Vaughn Declaration of the same date. Most of the records listed in the Index ...
A list of records that were contemporaneous and derivative to the CIA's destruction of the interrogation videotapes. The records listed describe the contents of the destroyed tapes. The list was produced to the ACLU and the Court ...
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 ...
