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 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 ...
November 2001 memo from Yoo and Delahunty to Gonzales summarizing treaties and laws applicable to the conflict in Afghanistan and to the treatment of persons captured by U.S. Armed Forces.
This series of letters contains the original inquiry from Macbeth Bertrand Henry, President of the Commission on Children's Rights about juvenile detainees in Guantanamo Bay prison. The response letter from Pierre-Richard Prosper asserts that ...
This document contains a chart labeled "Detainees-Limited Access" from the National Security Council Distribution Receipt West Wing Desk. The chart contains a list of government officials under the "addressee" column.
This February 7, 2002 memorandum announces to the vice president, secretary of state, attorney general, CIA director, and others that the President accepts the legal conclusions of the Department of Justice that the Geneva Conventions do not ...
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 ...
This attached fax cover sheet and letter is a response from Director Gerald Feierstein to Mr. and Mrs. Sturtevant's January 31, 2002 letter concerning the Bush Administration's policy with respect to the detention of enemy combatants captured in ...
This is a memo from the Chief of the White House Liaison Section, Executive Services Division, Washington Headquarters Services, DOD to the National Security Council Records Management Office reporting that the "Under Secretary of Defense for ...
This memo from John C. Yoo, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, to the President of the American Bar Association provides the legal justification for the treatment of U.S. Civilians as Enemy Combatants, specifically regarding their lack of right ...
This heavily redacted cable discusses a meeting at Embassy Suva to discuss a relocation/asylum proposal. The memo also discusses a meeting between Ambassador McGann and New Zealand High Commissioner to Kiribati Robert Kawai to discuss assistance ...
This memo from Paul Wolfowitz, US Deputy Secretary of Defense, to the Attorney General and the directors of the CIA and FBI provides notes and talking points on the most dangerous enemy combatants detained at Guantanamo to provide to the press in ...
This is a chart which lists 384 detainees of the US government; everything but their names, the dates of ARB completion, and their home countries are redacted.
This memo from Donald Rumsfeld to Stephen Hadley, Cheney, Gonzales, Rice, and Dan Bartlett provides a set of metrics for detention operations through July 20, 2005.
This memorandum authored by Bruce Jessen and others to Col. Coomey on February 28, 2002 includes specific recommendations for interrogation procedures based on conditions at Camp X-Ray. The memorandum contains "Cardinal Pre-Conditions for ...
This Joint Personnel Recovery Agency Draft Exploitation Plan crafted by Bruce Jessen and others in 2002 proposed the creation of a secret military interrogation facility abroad. The plan details personnel requirements, strategies for ...
These slides contain part two of a two-part presentation given by Dr. Bruce Jessen to future interrogators at Guantanamo Bay on how to overcome Al-Qa'ida Resistance based on "recently obtained Al-Qa'ida Documents."
These slides contain part one of a two-part presentation given by Dr. Bruce Jessen to future interrogators at Guantanamo Bay on how to overcome Al-Qa'ida Resistance based on "recently obtained Al-Qa'ida Documents."
These slides contain the second section of a two-part presentation given by Dr. Bruce Jessen to train American interrogators headed to Guantanamo Bay on how to extract information from detainees. This section also includes specific strategies ...
These slides contain the first section of a two-part presentation given by Dr. Bruce Jessen to train American interrogators headed to Guantanamo Bay on how to extract information from detainees.
A letter from Jack Goldsmith to Scott Muller regarding the CIA Inspector General's Special Review of the CIA's interrogation program. The letter expresses concern at the fact that, according to the Special Review, aspects of the CIA's ...
Letter 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.
A letter providing legal advice regarding whether the conditions of detention at certain overseas CIA facilities are consistent with the applicable standards of the DTA. It concludes that the conditions of confinement did not constitute "cruel, ...
An OLC memo addressing whether certain enhanced interrogation techniques used by the CIA are consistent with the United States's obligations under Article 16 of the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading ...
An OLC memo to the CIA addressing whether the use of "twelve particular interrogation techniques (attention grasp, walling, facial hold, facial slap (insult slap), cramped confinement, wall standing, stress positions, sleep deprivation, dietary ...
An OLC memo to the CIA addressing whether the use of "twelve particular interrogation techniques (attention grasp, walling, facial hold, facial slap (insult slap), cramped confinement, wall standing, stress positions, sleep deprivation, dietary ...
An OLC memo concluding that the CIA’s proposed interrogation plan for Abu Zubaydah — which contemplates methods including “insects placed in a confinement box” and “the waterboard” — does not violate the torture statute.
This April 2002 cable provides an updated interrogation plan for Abu Zubaydah, which includes descriptions of the physical environment, security measures, and interrogation process, including the use of interrogation techniques.
This heavily redacted CIA cable states that in anticipation of a CIA site operating without a high value detainee psychologist on site, Bruce Jessen is requested to prepare an operational handbook on detainee management.
This March 2004 paper written by James Mitchell and John Jessen discusses the importance of knowing how human memory works for intelligence collection efforts. The paper also includes some interrogation and debriefing techniques to employ on ...
This e-mail includes a draft of interrogation training documents for a CIA course with a note concerning Dr. James Mitchell and Dr. Bruce Jessen's role in an upcoming presentation. The draft notes are redacted and are labeled "CIA High Value ...
This is a heavily redacted email sent to students who "have been selected/invited to attend/support the CTC/RDG Interrogators and Debriefers courses." The only unredacted information in the email (other than Mitchell and Jessen's names) is ...
This November 2006 cable lists the personnel involved with the detainee program who have acknowledged reading and understanding the "Guidelines on Confinement Conditions for CIA Detainees". The list includes James Mitchell.
This is an email which provides electronic copies "of the CTC/RDG Interrogator Course Critiques." This course was taught by Mitchell, Jessen, and one other redacted official, and the critiques come from "interrogator graduates" and an OMS ...
This CIA cable recommends the continuation of the interrogation/debriefing process, particularly for Abu Zubaydah and mentions the psychologists James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen.
This cable includes the contents of Abu Zubaydah's April 2004 mental status exam and December 2003 psychological assesment conducted by Mitchell and Jessen.
This is an email (with sender and receiver redacted) sending a final draft of the CIA High Value Target Interrogation and Exploitation (HVTIE) Team Training document. The postscript note in the email mentions Mitchell and Jessen by name and ...