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)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Aug. 20, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 6499
This heavily redacted message describes one instance (on August 4, 2002) of "the aggressive phase" of high value captive interrogation and recommends its use as a template for future interrogation.
Non-legal Memo, Cable
ALEC Info Director
EIT, Stress positions, Environmental manipulation
Aug. 20, 2002 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 6725
This heavily redacted message describes one instance (starting on August 4, 2002) of "the aggressive phase" of high value captive interrogation and recommends its use as a template for future interrogation. Nothing new has been disclosed since ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Non-legal Memo, Cable
ALEC Info Director
EIT
Aug. 18, 2002 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 3474
Interview of a detainee at Camp Delta, Guantanamo Bay. The detainee stated that during his detention by the U.S. military in Kandahar, Afghanistan, he was beaten by some guards as he was laying face do the ground. He stated that he was not ...
May 18, 2005
Non-legal Memo, Interview (Summaries/Notes)
Physical assault, General
Aug. 18, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 6753
This cable details the results of the August 18, 2002 cycle of interrogation sessions of Abu Zubaydah, which is day 15 of the aggressive interrogation phase. The sessions were conducted by IC SERE psychologists. The cable states that Abu Zubaydah ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
Abu Zubaydah
EIT
Aug. 17, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3781
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 ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Cable
Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell, Pierre-Richard Prosper
Aug. 16, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 6821
This document contains a citizen's letter to President Bush voicing disapproval that Afghan prisoners are not treated like prisoners of war and includes an attached article from the San Francisco Chronicle. The document also contains an August ...
May 15, 2012
Letter
George W. Bush
Anne Crowther
Aug. 15, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 3170

Summarizes activities at Camp Delta, Guantanamo - Feedback sessions, coaching and training in "al-Qaida 101," "Islam 101" and Behavioral Assessment/Interview Strategies. Meetings with FBI/CITF leaders, plans for feedback ...

Aug. 15, 2002 | Non-US | ACLU-RDI 3800
This letter is from Ann Clwyd, Member of the British Parliament on behalf of an All-Party Parliamentary Human Group expressing concern over treatment of detainees held at Guantanamo. She voices concern over the "legal limbo" the detainees are in ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Letter
Ann Clwyd
Glyn Davies
JoAnn J. Dolan
Aug. 15, 2002 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 6671
This cable provides a report of day 12 of the cycle of interrogation carried out on detainee Abu Zubaydah on August 15, 2002. Though large portions of this report are redacted, it includes details of interrogators using a combination of ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
Abu Zubaydah
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding, Cramped confinement, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling
Aug. 14, 2002 | WH | ACLU-RDI 4712
White House Fax Cover Sheet re: SOC for 8 August DC Meeting on Detainee Processing. No attachment. No additional information
June 08, 2005
Letter
Maura Harty | James A. Whitmore | James A. McAtamney | Jeffrey Kupfer | Edward Snead
Maura A. Harty, James A. Whitmore, Edward W. Snead, James A. McAtamney