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
| ACLU-RDI 6770
This CIA cable states that Rizzo, Bellinger, Gonzales, and Yoo have been briefed on the interrogation plan for Abu Zubaydah and all approve. The cable also mentions the IC SERE Psychologists managing the psychological aspects of Abu Zubaydah's ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
John B. Bellinger, III, Alberto R. Gonzales, John A. Rizzo, John Yoo
Abu Zubaydah
| ACLU-RDI 6771
This CIA document is heavily redacted and identifies James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen as contractors who administered enhanced interrogation techniques to Abu Zubaydah and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.
Dec. 20, 2016
Non-legal Memo
James Mitchell , Bruce Jessen
Abu Zubaydah, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
EIT
| ACLU-RDI 6773
This CIA memo discusses the timeline for the use of enhanced interrogation techniques post 9/11 on high value detainees at black sites.
Dec. 20, 2016
Non-legal Memo
George J. Tenet, George Bush
EIT, SERE
| ACLU-RDI 6778
This e-mail from an anonymous source to James Mitchell expresses interest in training with Mitchell and Bruce Jessen for future interrogations and discusses psychological techniques from Mitchell and Jessen's recent paper presented at a conference.
Dec. 20, 2016
Email
James Mitchell
James Mitchell , Bruce Jessen
SERE
| ACLU-RDI 6781
This CIA cable recommends the continuation of the interrogation/debriefing process, particularly for Abu Zubaydah and mentions the psychologists James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen.
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
James Mitchell , Bruce Jessen
Abu Zubaydah
| ACLU-RDI 6788
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.
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
Bruce Jessen
CIA | ACLU-RDI 6624
This letter provides Bruce Jessen, of Mitchell, Jessen and Associates LLC confirmation of Verbal Authorization to Proceed Not to Exceed for DCI's Counterterrorist Center (CTC) Elicitation and Training for a CTC Project (name of Project redacted ...
Nov. 23, 2016
Other
Contracting Officer
Bruce Jessen
Bruce Jessen
| ACLU-RDI 6774
Bruce Jessen's Resume.
Dec. 20, 2016
Other
Bruce Jessen
EIT, SERE
| ACLU-RDI 6555
This document is a CIA Memo drafted for the Deputy Director for Operations via the Associate Deputy Director for Operations/Counterintelligence. The previous release of this document (on June 13, 2016) included more redactions such as Bruce ...
Sept. 30, 2016
Non-legal Memo
James Pavitt
James Pavitt, Bruce Jessen, James Mitchell
Gul Rahman
EIT, SERE, Use of water, Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation
| ACLU-RDI 6708
This November 27, 2007 memo justifies the future use of contractors as High Value Detainee Interrogators (HVDI). The memo states that before September 11, 2001 the CIA had no resident expertise in interrogation and therefore contract ...