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.
Summary of a FBI interview of a detainee being held at Camp X-Ray, Guantanamo Bay about his affiliation with the Taliban/Al Qaeda. Mentioned that he was transferred to Camp X-ray from Kandahar. The detainee stated he had no ties to Taliban, that ...
Summary of a FBI interview of a detainee being held at Camp X-Ray, Guantanamo Bay about his affiliation with the Taliban and Al Qaeda. The detainee mentioned that he was transferred to Camp X-ray from Kandahar (stayed in Kandahar for 45 days ...
May 18, 2005
Non-legal Memo, Interview (Summaries/Notes) Other
An OLC memo concluding that Congress cannot interfere with the President's exercise of his authority as Commander in Chief to control the conduct of operations during war, including his authority to promulgate rules to regulate military ...
A summary of a FBI interview of a detainee being held at Camp X-Ray about the conditions of confinement in the camp. During the interview, the detainee stated that Military Police "have been mistreating the detainees by pushing them ...
An OLC memo concluding that, “the President has plenary constitutional authority, as the commander in chief, to transfer such individuals who are held and captured outside the United States to the control of another country.” ...
FBI Memo from Behavioral Science Consultation Team to Criminal Investigations Task Force (CITF) re: Behavioral Assessment of Security and Interview Strategies and Training at Guantanamo. Contents redacted.
FBI Memo from Behavioral/Operational Consultation Team to FBI Criminal Investigation Task Force (CITF) re: Assessment and Recommendations Regarding Interviewing, Debriefing, Interrogation of Al-Qaeda/Taliban detainees at Guantanamo. Contents ...
This February 7, 2002 OLC memo from Jay Bybee finds that the President has "reasonable factual grounds" to determine that no members of the Taliban militia are entitled prisoner of war status under Article 4 of the third Geneva Convention (1949).
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 ...
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.
A memo from John Yoo to John Bellinger analyzing whether the President may suspend certain articles of the ABM treaty. The concludes that in both cases proposed, the president may suspend the articles.
This memo considers the use of military force to prevent or deter terrorist activity domestically and concludes that, “the President has both constitutional and statutory authority to use the armed forces in military operations, against ...
The memo discusses whether a change to the FISA law would render it unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment. Specifically it considers and concludes that changing the law from requiring that foreign intelligence gathering be “the ...
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 summary of an interview completed by the U.S. Naval Criminal investigative Service with Guantanamo Bay detainee, Moazaam Begg, was released by the Department of Defense Office of the General Counsel; the DOD's release letter to the ACLU is ...
This document is a memo from the Director of the FBI providing guidelines on the disciplinary process within the FBI. He expresses his hope to draw a "bright line" is order to keep all employees aware of his expectations and sets out his vision ...
FBI Repatriation Evaluation. Notes under heading "Investigative Summary" and "Interview Summary" entirely redacted. FBI "concurs with the DOD's recommendation of release and recommends transfer to continued ...
Draft FBI memo divided into sections headed "Guantanamo" "Iraq" and "Afghanistan", with an additional section headed "Unknown Location." Memo also includes a redacted log of listings with "Date" and "Event" columns that include the words ...
The document provides investigative and interview summaries for detainees. The document is fully redacted, except for the statement: "The FBI disagrees with DOD's recommendation of release [of the detainee] and recommends transfer for continued ...
The document discusses the new division of labor between GTMO CITF, which will run tribunals, and the FBI, which will concentrate on interrogation. The author observes that "detainees are all extremely frustrated about being asked the same ...
Deleted page information sheet referencing an Electronic Communication from CIRG concerning assistance and challenges during TDY in Guantanamo (2620-2626), some DOD documents (2627-2648); and a draft document (CIRG at Guantanamo to Commanding ...
FBI Deleted Page Information sheet referencing a memorandum concerning interview strategies at Guantanamo (2693-2694) and a memorandum concerning legal issues regarding interrogation techniques (2695-2697).
Identities of sender and recipient redacted. Sender works for HQ and states that "EAD Pistole wants some talking points by noon today on the quality of DoD's interviews at GTMO. I am going to pull bullets from the attached EC. If you have any ...
FBI Deleted Page Information Sheet referencing Emails from CIRG/BAU re: Guantanamo matters. Authors referenced include: Marion Bowman, Stephen Wiley; Addressees include: Frankie Battle, Larry Mefford, John Pistole, Marion Bowman, Stephen Wiley, ...
The email is mostly redacted but has two lines that are readable: 1) I know that you may have news for us following your 1600 meet. Please review the documents attached; and 2) Thanks. The GTMO Guys."
Behavioral Analysis Advisor writes he observed aggressive interrogation techniques that were planned and implemented against certain detainees. The email states "As you may be aware, I was in GTMO and I did observe aggressive Interrogation ...