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)

Questions to Hon. Les Brownlee, Acting Secretary of the Army and Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, Chief of Staff of the Army from Senators Carl Levin and Bill Nelson. Questions focus on detainees' right to communicate with the International Committee ...
N/A
N/A
N/A
June 13, 2016
Non-legal Memo
SERE
N/A
June 13, 2016
Non-legal Memo
Stress positions
View version of transcript with portions released on 6/13/16 highlighted here: https://www.aclu.org/other/abu-zubaydah-csrt-transcript
CSRT
Abu Zubaydah
EIT
View version of this transcript with portions released on 6/13/16 highlighted here: https://www.aclu.org/other/majid-khan-csrt-transcript
CSRT
Majid Khan
EIT
View version of this transcript with portions released on 6/13/16 highlighted here: https://www.aclu.org/other/abd-al-rahim-al-nashiri-csrt-transcript
CSRT
EIT
View version of transcript with portions released on 6/13/16 highlighted here: https://www.aclu.org/other/mustafa-al-hawsawi-csrt-transcript
CSRT
Mustafa Ahmed al Hawsawi
EIT
View version of transcript with portions released on 6/13/16 highlighted here: https://www.aclu.org/other/ammar-al-baluchi-csrt-transcript
CSRT
Abd al Aziz Ali
EIT
View version of transcript with portions released on 6/13/16 highlighted here: https://www.aclu.org/other/khalid-sheikh-muhammad-csrt-transcript
CSRT
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
EIT
This document is an email criticizing Judge Robertson's decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. The email states that "This is an opportunity for the Administration to fix the process and still save the process." It includes three pages of the opinion ...
Email
Redacted
Julie F. Thomas | Frankie Battle
Julie Thomas, Frankie Battle
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 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 ...
Email
James Mitchell , Bruce Jessen
SERE
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 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 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 memorandum prepared for Steve Bradbury details intelligence the CIA obtained through the use of enhanced interrogation techniques.
This heavily redacted memo asks that language discussing the legality of given activities and judgment calls from senior agency officials not be included in written traffic.
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 ...
Email
James Mitchell , Bruce Jessen
Abu Zubaydah
This message from Scott Muller to James Pavitt describes a planned move of CIA detainees from Guantanamo in light of an upcoming Supreme Court case which will decide whether Guantanamo is U.S. territory.
June 13, 2016
Email
Scott Muller
James Pavitt
James Pavitt, George Tenet, John McLaughlin, John Moseman, Scott W. Muller, Patrick Philbin
This document is a CIA Report of Investigation regarding the rendition and detention of German citizen Khalid Al-Masri. The report concludes that there was an "insufficient basis to render and detain" Al-Masri, his prolonged detention was ...
Oversight Report
John L. Helgerson
Khalid Al-Masri
Physical assault
This July 9, 2002 email from [redacted] to [redacted] re: Description of Physical Pressures, includes the contents of a memo from an operational psychologist describing "potential physical and psychological pressures" to be used on a particular ...
This January 22, 2003 email is a message from [redacted] stating that he has informed the CTC that he no longer wants to be associated with the interrogation program "due to serious reservation" and will be retiring shortly.
This April 21, 2005 email message encloses a rough draft of talking points to be used in rolling out the interrogation program to the public.
This document is a CIA Memo drafted for the Deputy Director for Operations via the Associate Deputy Director for Operations/Counterintelligence. The memo contains background information related to the treatment and condition of detainees as it ...
This February 27, 2004 memo from James L. Pavitt, Deputy Director for Operations to the Inspector General, discusses the success of the CIA's new counterterrorism detention and interrogation program, by providing detailed accounts of the use of ...
Non-legal Memo
James Pavitt
Inspector General
EIT, Use of water
This report details the investigation into the death of Gul Rahman.
This document is a fax from [redacted], [redacted] Legal Group, DCI Counterterrorist Center, CIA to Steve Bradbury, Office of Legal Counsel, Department of Justice, containing answers composed by the CIA' s Office of Medical Services to 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).

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 ...

Legal Memo, Letter
John C. Yoo
John A. Rizzo
John C. Yoo, John A. Rizzo, Jennifer Koester
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 Amendment of Solicitation/Modification of Contract is the fifth modification to the March 2005 contract between Mitchell, Jessen & Associates and the government. The purpose of this modification is to add clause 152.245-714, "Government ...
This Statement of Work dated June 15, 2005 includes Mitchell, Jessen & Associates' (MJA) Technical Proposal dated April 27, 2005, which lays out the objectives and scope of the Project with the Counterterrorist Center (CTC) (the name of the ...
This CIA cable outlines the recommended interrogation plan for Gul Rahman and states that it should include "environmental deprivation" and "concentrated interrogation exposure." Specifically, sleep loss and fatigue are suggested as most ...
Sept. 02, 2016
Cable
Bruce Jessen
Gul Rahman
EIT, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation
This document contains interview notes of a redacted official discussing their knowledge of the events surrounding Gul Rahman's death. The interview discusses different detention conditions at the COBALT site and the kinds of conditions Gul ...
Sept. 02, 2016
Cable, Interview (Summaries/Notes)
Bruce Jessen
Gul Rahman
EIT, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Nudity
This CIA cable details the amount the agency paid to psychologists James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen for their professional services since 2002. The cable also describes the current status of Mitchell, Jessen and Associates' contract with the CIA ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
James Mitchell , Bruce Jessen
Jose Padilla, Binyam Mohamed
EIT
This CIA cable describes the CIA Counterterrorism Center (CTC)'s contract with Mitchell, Jessen & Associates (MJA), a company started by psychologists James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen. The cable states that Mitchell and Jessen were "instrumental" ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
Bruce Jessen, James Mitchell
This 2002 chronology of events details Gul Rahman's time at COBALT including the assessments and interviews conducted of him and the interrogation techniques he was subjected to, according to cable reports and visits. It also lists the dates ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Chart/List
James Mitchell , Bruce Jessen
Gul Rahman
Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Temperature, Nudity, Other