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
May 13, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 3485
An email between FBI officials discussing how the FBI should approach interrogations in Afghanistan, and specifically discussing the need for guidance. The email focuses in part on the differing approaches of the military and the FBI to ...
May 18, 2005
Email
Frankie Battle | Gary M. Bald | Thomas J. Harrington
Frankie Battle, Gary M. Bald, Thomas J. Harrington
May 13, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3718
Letter from Douglas Davidson, U.S. Deputy Representative to the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) re: Revelations of Abuse and Humiliation of Iraqi Detainees by U.S. & Coalition forces in Iraq. Amb. Davidson expressed ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Letter
Douglas Davidson
George W. Bush, Geoffrey D. Miller, Mark Traecey Patrick Kimmitt, Douglas Davidson
May 13, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3842

Email includes news articles about high level detainees, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Abu Zubaydah and the "harsh" interrogation methods the CIA employs. The email includes another article, which reports specific accounts of abuse.

Dec. 30, 2004
Email
Jonathan B. Schwartz
Katherine M. Gorove | Michael J. Dennis
George W. Bush, Jonathan B. Schwartz, Katherine M. Gorove, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Frank E. Schmelzer , Michael J. Dennis, Mark P. Lagon, Lorne Craner, Michael G. Kozak, Miriam K. Hughes, Janice A. Smith
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah, Walid Bin Attash
Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Forced grooming
May 13, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3843

Email includes news articles about high level detainees, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Abu Zubaydah and the "harsh" interrogation methods the CIA employs. The email includes another article, which reports specific accounts of abuse.

Dec. 30, 2004
Email
JoAnn J. Dolan
Ted A. Borek | Michael J. Dennis | Jonathan B. Schwartz | Katherine M. Gorove
Frank E. Schmelzer , JoAnn J. Dolan, Ted A. Borek, Jonathan B. Schwartz, Katherine M. Gorove, Monica J. Tillery, Michael J. Dennis, Mark P. Lagon, Lorne Craner, Michael G. Kozak, Janice A. Smith, Miriam K. Hughes
Abu Zubaydah, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Walid Bin Attash
May 13, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4054
Statement on International Humanitarian Law and Respect for Human Rights by Douglas Davidson. His statement condemns the allegations of abuse at Abu Ghraib and states that the allegations will be investigated and that offenders will be punished ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Interview (Statement)
Douglas Davidson
Douglas Davidson, Harry R. Melone, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Mark Traecey Patrick Kimmitt, Geoffrey D. Miller, George W. Bush
May 13, 2004 | ACLU-RDI 4194
Memo includes excerpts from an ICRC press statement on the U.S. government's detention policies. The ICRC's President asked the U.S. to institute due legal process and to make significant changes for the more than 600 detainees being held in ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Charles L. Daris, Margaret J. Pollack, Carol T. Santos
May 13, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4274

Press release of trancript of Secretary of State Colin L. Powell On BBC TV with Huw Edwards. Sec. Powell discusses Iraq; Abu Ghraib prison abuse; and the President Bush & UK PM Blair relationship.

Dec. 17, 2004
Other
Colin L. Powell, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Richard B. Myers, George W. Bush
May 13, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4276
Press release of trancript of Secretary of State Colin L. Powell On BBC TV with Huw Edwards. Sec. Powell discusses Iraq; Abu Ghraib prison abuse; and the President Bush & UK PM Blair relationship..
Dec. 17, 2004
Email
Sara A. Stryker
George W. Bush, Colin L. Powell, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Richard B. Myers, Sara A. Stryker
May 13, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4337
State Department cable to the U.S. Mission in Venna to deliver remarks of Sec. Powell to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe May 13, 2003. The points to make are i) The Military Commissions will be impartial; ii) there is a ...
Dec. 17, 2004
Cable
Colin L. Powell, George W. Bush
May 13, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4639
DOS Note discussing letters sent by UN Rapporteurs asking for explanations regarding allegations of torture at detention facilities in Iraq. Refers to one letter that discusses the detention of four Iraqis allegedly being held incommunicado in Basra.
Nov. 23, 2004
Notes
Kim R. Holmes
Kim R. Holmes, L. Paul Bremer, Jeffrey DeLaurentis