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
July 22, 2004 | DOJ | ACLU-RDI 4576
In a letter to Acting CIA Director McLaughlin, Attorney General Ashcroft confirms his advice that the use of certain interrogation techniques (other than waterboarding) in the interrogation of a particular detainee outside territory subject to ...
Aug. 24, 2009
Letter
John D. Ashcroft
John E. McLaughlin
John D. Ashcroft, John McLaughlin, John A. Rizzo, Jay S. Bybee
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
July 23, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 18

Investigation into abuse allegations by two detainees. One detainee stated that he was arrested by U.S. forces on 4/23/04, and then taken to a house near Adhamiya Palace where he was held for 15-16 days, punched in the face and ribs until he ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott, John Peterson
Physical assault, Sexual, General, Use of electricity, Dietary manipulation, Other Humiliation, Sexual
July 23, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 3252
Provides additional information to Washington Field Office (WFO) re [redacted] and the abuse of detainees in Iraq "for review and any logical investigation deemed appropriate regarding the abuse of detainees in Iraq"
Dec. 15, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Alex J. Turner
Alex J. Turner
July 23, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 3253

FBI Memo to the Washington Field Office with documents and asking to initiate logical investigation concerning crimes on government reservations

Dec. 15, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Alex J. Turner
Alex J. Turner
July 23, 2004 | Legislative | ACLU-RDI 3312

Senator Cornyn fowarded correspondence he recieved from one of his constituents asking: "I read a story about 3 CIA personnel who may have killed three prisoners. The Agency submitted their reports to the Justice Dept. Interrogations of ...

Dec. 15, 2004
Letter
John Cornyn
John Cornyn
July 23, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 3345
FBI memo providing the Washington Field Office with an update on an investigation of abuse of detainees in Iraq.
May 18, 2005
Non-legal Memo
Charles J. Cunningham , Alex J. Turner
July 23, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 3346
FBI memo providing the Washington Field Office with an update on an investigation of the 800th Military Police abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
May 18, 2005
Non-legal Memo
Alex J. Turner
Charles J. Cunningham , Alex J. Turner
July 23, 2004 | Legislative | ACLU-RDI 3679
Letter from Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) requesting Sec. State Powell Dept's release several internal Administration documents regarding the treatment of enemy prisoners and combatants.
Oct. 15, 2004
Letter
Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
Colin L. Powell
Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Colin L. Powell
July 23, 2004 | Legislative | ACLU-RDI 3680
Letter from Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) requesting Sec. of State Powell to have the State Department provide the Committee on Foreign Relations with copies of documents, and any other legal memoranda prepared after September 11, 2001, that interpret ...
Oct. 15, 2004
Letter
Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
Colin L. Powell
Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Colin L. Powell
July 23, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 4957
This email is a response to a Bureau wide memo sent by Steve McCraw to illicit information from FBI agents who toured through Guantanamo Bay to report any suspected or witnessed abuse of detainees at Guantanamo Bay. The agent stated "I did not ...
Jan. 02, 2007
Non-legal Memo, Email
Steven C. McCraw
Physical assault, Sexual, Other Humiliation, Religious