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 02, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4631
Emails between DOS Officials regarding detainees at Abu Ghraib (AG). The more recent email discusses an Israeli national, George Ben-Baki, who is believed to be a detainee at AG, however, the officials are unsure and awaiting confirmation from ...
Nov. 23, 2004
Email
Cara L. Abercrombie
Daniel J. Wartko
Richard G. Olson, Cara L. Abercrombie, Donald A. Blome, Daniel J. Wartko, Dorothy C. Shea, David J. Greene , Norman H. Olsen , David B. Berns, Thomas E. Williams, Frank E. Schmelzer
George Ben-Baki
July 02, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 6346
The document is an internal FBI email, regarding a letter to be sent by the FBI Office of General Counsel to the DoD detailing previously unreported detainee abuse allegations. In one email, an agent, whose name is redacted, speaks passionately ...
June 15, 2011
Email
Valerie E. Caproni, Marion E. Bowman, J. Stephen Tidwell
July 02, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 6455
This document is an email from redacted FBI officials concerning documentation for detained persons.
July 02, 2004 | CIA-OIG | ACLU-RDI 6610
This letter from John Helgerson, Inspector General of the CIA, to Jack Goldsmith of the OLC addresses the DOJ's proposed modifications to the IG report. Helgerson writes, "we have carefully reviewed the comments of the [DOJ] regarding the Special ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Letter
John L. Helgerson
Jack L. Goldsmith
John L. Helgerson, Jack L. Goldsmith, George J. Tenet, Pat Roberts, Porter Goss, John D. Rockefeller, IV, Jane Harman
July 02, 2004 | CIA-OGC | ACLU-RDI 6611
This letter from Scott Muller to John Bellinger concerns further discussions that clarified the approval of certain interrogation techniques. He writes, "the authorized techniques are those previously approved for use with Abu Zubaydah (with the ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo, Letter
Scott W. Muller
John B. Bellinger | James B. Comey
James B. Comey, John B. Bellinger, III, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Scott W. Muller
Abu Zubaydah
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
July 05, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 24

Detainee alleged that he was captured in mid-April, 2004 at his house in Ammaria (Al Amiryah), Iraq, held at a U.S. facility in Ammaria, then transferred to Baghdad Airport and, finally, Abu Ghraib. The detainee alleged that, at Ammaria, two ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott, John Peterson
Physical assault, General, Threat, Assault/death, Other Humiliation
July 05, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 91
Investigation prompted by NYT article containing victim's allegations of torture and abuse during detention in Abu Ghraib from November 29 through December 31, 2003. Investigation concludes there is not “sufficient evidence to prove or disprove ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott, John Peterson
Bisher Amin Khalil al Rawi
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, General, Threat, Assault/death, Stress positions, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation
July 05, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 2544
Sworn statement by NCOIC of Interrogation Operations at Abu Ghraib Prison and responsible for screening detainee packets. States that only one detainee has "said anything to me about being beaten and coerced into doing anything."
July 06, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 2538
Sworn statement of Chief Warrant Officer 3 discusses interrogation and detention conditions and practices. "Titan employees don't interrogate?they translate. Interrogators are all military or FBI." Mentions food provided to detainees and ...
July 06, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 2545
Sworn statement by an intelligence analyst responsible for pre-briefing and post-briefing interrogators about detainees. Talks about interrogation procedures. Mentions that "a detainee came to us, who is now at Abu Ghraib. When he came he was ...