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.
(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.
This State Department memo is a partial of a larger memo entitled "Interrogations and Army Regulations". and states "The Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War provides that "no physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion, may be ...
State Department cable concerning the identification of detainees at Guantanamo. Specifically, the cable states "It was recently discovered that several detainees transferred to Guantanamo who were previously reported to be nationals of ...
State Department cable with talking points to address concerns of foreign governments about their citizens being held at Guantanamo. The cable states; 1) These individuals pose a threat to the United States and international peace and security ...
State Department cable with talking points to address concerns of foreign governments about their citizens being held at Guantanamo. The cable states; 1) These individuals pose a threat to the United States and international peace and security ...
Letter from Edward Davey Member of the UK House of Commons expressing concerns about the continuing detention of his constituent at Guantanamo and requesting information and access to the gentleman.
This State Department cable provides talking points concerning informing foreign governments about the transfer of their citizens/nationals to Guantanamo after they were picked-up on the battle field of Afghanistan, and policy guidance for ...
State department Memo from Ambassador Pierre-Richard Prosper to Secretary Powell with requesting approval on reply to Edward Davey Member of the UK House of Commons re: his concerns about detainees. Approval was given.
State Department cable to the London Mission with an attached letter from Sec. Powell to be delivered to Edward Davey Member of the UK House of Commons, briefly explaining U.S. policy regarding access to detainees.
This State Department cable provides talking points concerning informing foreign governments about the transfer of their citizens/nationals to Guantanamo after they were picked-up on the battle field of Afghanistan, and policy guidance for ...