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
Feb. 25, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3583
This State Department cable provides talking points for US mission & Embassy officials to inform foreign governments about the transfer of their citizens/nationals to Guantanamo after they were picked-up on the battle field of Afghanistan. It ...
Nov. 23, 2004
Cable
Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell, Brent E. Blaschke , Debra L. Cagan
Feb. 25, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3621
State Department memo discussing a recent petition filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) against the U.S.. The CCR's petition alleges that the U.S. government's treatment ...
Nov. 23, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Otto J. Reich | Roger F. Noriega
Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell, Otto J. Reich, Roger F. Noriega, Frank E. Schmelzer
Feb. 25, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 4171
Letter from The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights re: Observations to Precautionary Measures filed on Behalf of Guantanamo Detainees
Dec. 30, 2004
Letter
George W. Bush, Donald H. Rumsfeld
Feb. 25, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 6334
The document is a list of employees taking military leave, with names redacted but BPMS titles and total military hours listed.
Feb. 22, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4236
State Department cable concerning the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) diplomatic assistant, Beatrice Megevand-Roggo's request for access to the detainees being held in U.S. custody at Guantanamo. The cable is otherwise heavily ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Cable
Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell
Feb. 21, 2002 | Non-US | ACLU-RDI 3777
Several letters faxed to U.S. Amb. William Farish from Christian Fisher, Solicitors (UK) re: Status of British National Detainee at Guantanamo. The attorneys for the family of the detainee request information such as: what is the legal authority ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Letter
Christian Fisher
William Farish
William Stamps Farish, IV
Feb. 20, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4235
State Department Cable concerning Secretary of State Powell meeting with Minister of Canadian Foreign Affairs William Graham to discuss trade issues and the treatment of Al-Qaeda and Taliban prisoners held in detention at Guantanamo. The meeting ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Cable
Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell
Feb. 19, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3563
These emails concern the coordination of the State Department’s resources in transferring operations of the Joint Interagency Interrogation functions to a new command that will be headed by MG Dunleavy. The new Joint Task Force (JTF-170) will ...
Nov. 23, 2004
Email
Gregory M. Suchan
Linda Watt
Gregory M. Suchan, Linda Watt, Martin Chesches, John Finney, Brent E. Blaschke , Lincoln P. Bloomfield, Peter G. Schmeelk , Randolph Marshall Bell, Debra L. Cagan, James J. Carragher, Gregory B. Sprow, James A. Larocco, Gordon Gray, Michael E. Dunlavey
Feb. 19, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 3776
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. The cable instructs the ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Cable
Pierre-Richard Prosper
Feb. 18, 2002 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 1794
This document is the sworn statement of an army interpreter who visited a detainee in early February 2002 and the detainee stated he was regularly beaten by Military Police while housed at the Kandahar Detention Facility. The interpreter states ...
Dec. 21, 2005
Investigative File, Interview (Transcript)
Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, General