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
Aug. 04, 2004 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 4501

(A CIA affidavit states that this was a 1-page memo dated Aug. 4, 2004 from CIA to OLC and that it contained "communications from the CIA to OLC on a matter in which the CIA requested legal advice from OLC.")  The document ...

July 24, 2008
Legal Memo
Richard J. Durbin
EIT, Waterboarding, Use of water
Aug. 01, 2002 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 4502

This is a heavily redacted version of an OLC memo later released in less-redacted form (at ACLU-RDI 4548).  This unredacted portions of this version of the memo from the OLC to the CIA discuss the anti-torture statute 18 U.S.C. 2340, ...

July 24, 2008
Legal Memo
Jay S. Bybee
John A. Rizzo
Jay S. Bybee
June 18, 2008 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 4507
Heavily redacted memo from DCI to Nat'l Sec. Advisor (4pgs) and memo from GC to DCI (1pg) with routers. Refers to DOJ's 2002 authorization for the CIA to employ certain techniques on certain high-value detainees (HVDs), and mentions waterboarding.
May 27, 2008
Non-legal Memo
George Tenet
George J. Tenet
Abu Zubaydah, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
Jan. 14, 2008 | ACLU-RDI 4508
Memo to the CIA Office of the Inspector General providing comments for its Special Review (17pg), with attachments (26pg).
May 27, 2008
Non-legal Memo
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
June 17, 2007 | ACLU-RDI 4509
Memo prepared by the CIA General Counsel to the CIA Office of the Inspector General contained legal analysis and conclusions.
May 27, 2008
Non-legal Memo
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
Apr. 08, 2007 | ACLU-RDI 4510
Document created by CIA component that includes a discussion of enhanced interrogation techniques.
May 27, 2008
Non-legal Memo
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
Nov. 03, 2006 | ACLU-RDI 4511
Redacted draft of CIA report outlining general concepts and proposals.
Jan. 25, 2007 | ACLU-RDI 4512
Redacted CIA document referencing enhanced interrogation techniques and waterboarding.
May 27, 2008
Other
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
Nov. 03, 2006 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 4513
FBI Deleted Page Information Sheet
May 27, 2008
Other
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
Oct. 16, 2006 | ACLU-RDI 4514
Memorandum from a CIA employee to a CIA attorney. Heavily redacted document, references waterboarding.
May 27, 2008
Other
EIT, Waterboarding, Use of water