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 letter from Levin to Rizzo addresses the use of waterboarding on a specific detainee. It concludes that "although it is a close and difficult question, the use of the waterboard technique in the contemplated interrogation of [redacted] ...
In the letter to Acting CIA Director McLaughlin, Attorney General Ashcroft confirms his advice that the use of certain interrogation techniques (other than waterboarding) in the interrogation of a particular detainee outside territory subject to ...
This June 11, 2009 OLC memo from David Barron states the withdrawal of an additional OLC opinion regarding CIA interrogation methods. The decision to withdraw was made in connection with the consideration of this opinion for possible public release.
This letter from Goldsmith to Muller addresses the use of interrogation techniques on a certain high-value detainee and is a follow-up to 2 previous memos approving 33 techniques (an OLC memo approved 9 and a memo from Secretary Rumsfeld approved ...
This April 15, 2009 OLC memo from David Barron states the withdrawal of four previous OLC opinions regarding CIA interrogation methods. The decision to withdraw the four opinions was made in connection with the consideration of these opinions for ...
This June 23, 2004 memo from Jack Goldsmith (OLC) to Scott W. Muller (General Counsel of the CIA) is a response to Muller's question of whether a redacted "terrorist operative" is a "protected person" and whether his [redacted] would violate the ...
This June 23, 2004 memo from Jack Goldsmith (OLC) to Scott W. Muller (General Counsel of the CIA) is a response to Muller's question of whether a redacted "terrorist operative" is a "protected person" and whether his [redacted] would violate the ...
This December 30, 2004 OLC memo from Daniel Levin interprets the federal criminal prohibition against torture. This memo supersedes the August 2002 memorandum ("Standards of Conduct under 18 U.S.C. §§ 2340–2340A") in its entirety.
This August 1, 2002 memo from John C. Yoo to Alberto Gonzales discusses standards of conduct for interrogations under the Torture Convention and under the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court.
An OLC memo from John Yoo to John Rizzo regarding "what is necessary to establish the crime of torture." The memo states that an individual must act with the "specific intent" to inflict severe mental pain or suffering to have committed torture, ...
This September 25, 2009 OLC memo from John Yoo finds that in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the President has the constitutional power to 1) retaliate against any person, organization, or state suspected of involvement in these attacks ...
This Jan. 22, 2002 memo from Jay Bybee (OLC) to Alberto R. Gonzales (Counsel to Pres. George W. Bush) and William H. Haynes II (General Counsel of the DOD) responds to a request for advice on the effect of the War Crimes Act and the Geneva ...
This letter from Steven Bradbury to the CIA's Associate General Counsel is a response to the CIA's November 7, 2007 letter regarding the interrogation of [redacted]. This letter states that applying the interrogation technique in question for the ...
This letter from Steven Bradbury to the CIA's Associate General Counsel is a response to the CIA's November 6, 2007 letter regarding the interrogation of [redacted]. This letter states that applying the interrogation technique in question for the ...
This letter from Steven Bradbury to the CIA's Associate General Counsel is a response to the CIA's August 23, 2007 letter regarding the interrogation of [redacted]. This letter states that applying the interrogation technique in question for the ...
This letter from Steven Bradbury to the CIA's Associate General Counsel is a response to the CIA's July 24, 2007 letter regarding the interrogation of [redacted]. This letter states that applying the interrogation technique in question for the ...
This letter from Steven Bradbury to John Rizzo memorializes the advice that Bradbury gave to Rizzo regarding whether the conditions of confinement used by the CIA in its covert overseas facilities are consistent with common Article 3 of the 1949 ...
This letter from Steven Bradbury, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, confirms that the legal guidance of the Attorney General's office as stated in a December 14, 2004 letter from Daniel Levin to John Rizzo, still pertains.
This letter from Daniel Levin to John Rizzo is the Office of Legal Counsel's response to the proposed use of twelve interrogation techniques during the interrogation of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani and whether or not these techniques would violate U.S. ...
This letter is from Jack Goldsmith to Scott Muller stating that he received a copy of the Inspector General Report on the CIA Enhanced Interrogation Program and is concerned about how these techniques are applied in practice.
This memorandum from Assistant Attorney General John Bybee to John Rizzo provides the Office of the Assistant Attorney General's view on whether certain proposed conduct during the interrogation of al Qaeda Operative Abu Zubaydah would violate ...
This memorandum from the Office of the Assistant Attorney General to Alberto Gonzales examines the legal standards of conduct for interrogations under the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
This document, prepared by the Chief of Medical Services, summarizes and reflects upon the rendition, detention and interrogation program. The findings include that in a particular no evidence was found that the use of waterboard produced ...
This June 20, 2003 email from [redacted] to [redacted] re: Re: RDG Tasking for IC Psychologists Jessen and Mitchell, contains comments on the tasking for IC psychologists, Jim Mitchell and Bruce Jessen. [Redacted] expresses concern that Mitchell ...
This document is a CIA Memo drafted for the Deputy Director for Operations via the Associate Deputy Director for Operations/Counterintelligence. The previous release of this document (on June 13, 2016) included more redactions such as Bruce ...
This June 16, 2003 email from [redacted] to [redacted] re: RDG Tasking for IC Psychologists Jessen and Mitchell, contains comments on the tasking for IC psychologists, Jim Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, specifically the projects they will be ...
This July 9, 2002 email from [redacted] to [redacted] re: Description of Physical Pressures, includes the contents of a memo from Jim Mitchell describing "potential physical and psychological pressures" to be used on a particular detainee. The ...
This report details the investigation into the death of Gul Rahman. This re-released report includes a description of psychologist Bruce Jessen and his role in the interrogation of Gul Rahman.
This document is an email sent on June 7, 2006, from [redacted] to [redacted] regarding Dr. Mitchell's 7 June Meeting with the DCI. In the previous release of this document (on June 13, 2016), the name "Dr. Mitchell" was also redacted in the ...
Report from the Office of Inspector General on Counterterrorism Detention and Interrogation Activities from September 2001-October 2003, specifically focusing on the use of Enhanced Interrogation Techniques (EITs). In a previously released ...
This July 20, 2007 OLC memo from Steven Bradbury to John Rizzo discusses whether the CIA may lawfully employ six enhanced interrogation techniques in the interrogation of "high value detainees who are members of al Qaeda and associated groups. ...
This August 31, 2006 OLC memo from Steven Bradbury to John Rizzo discusses whether particular "standards conditions of detention" at certain CIA facilities located overseas are consistent with the applicable standards of the Detainee Treatment Act.
This May 30, 2005 OLC memo from Steven Bradbury to John Rizzo discusses whether certain enhanced interrogation techniques employed by the CIA in the interrogation of high value al Qaeda detainees are consistent with U.S. obligations under Article ...
This May 10, 2005 OLC memo discusses whether certain interrogation techniques designed to be used on a high value al Qaeda detainee comply with the federal prohibition on torture.
Email from Daniel Levin to John Rizzo discussing whether the use of twelve interrogation techniques in the interrogation of Sharif al-Masri would violate any U.S. statute, the U.S. Constitution, or any treaty obligation of the U.S.
Email from Daniel Levin to John Rizzo discussing whether the use of twelve interrogation techniques in the interrogation of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani would violate any U.S. statute, the U.S. Constitution, or any treaty obligation of the U.S.
This August 1, 2002 OLC memo from Jay Bybee to John Rizzo discusses whether certain proposed conduct in the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah would violate the prohibition against torture found at Section 2340A of title 18 of the U.S. Code. The memo ...
This August 1, 2002 memo from Jay Bybee to Alberto Gonzales discusses standards of conduct for interrogations under the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Treatment or Punishment as implemented by 18 U.S. C. §§ ...
This heavily redacted memo contains notes from a meeting on specific interrogation techniques, including the waterboard, sleep deprivation, and water dousing, between DOJ attorneys, including Dan Levin and Steven Bradbury, and CIA personnel. ...
This memorandum is a heavily redacted message to Acting Assistant Attorney General Dan Levin, stating that the CIA is preparing preliminary biographies "in preparation for a future request for a legal opinion" on interrogations in CIA control.
This Operational Review of the CIA Detainee Program finds that the program is a success and provides "unique and invaluable intelligence." The review also finds that the procedures for handling detainees are "adequate and clear"and that the ...
This heavily redacted memorandum contains comments from Medical Services on the Counterterrorism Detention and Investigation Program. The memorandum mentions OMS concerns about a conflict of interest in which the only individuals approved to ...