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 6554
This June 16, 2003 email from [redacted] to [redacted] re: RDG Tasking for IC Psychologists Jessen and Mitchell, contains comments on the tasking for IC psychologists, Jim Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, specifically the projects they will be ...
Email
James Mitchell , Bruce Jessen
Abu Zubaydah
| ACLU-RDI 6484
This message from Scott Muller to James Pavitt describes a planned move of CIA detainees from Guantanamo in light of an upcoming Supreme Court case which will decide whether Guantanamo is U.S. territory.
June 13, 2016
Email
Scott Muller
James Pavitt
James Pavitt, George Tenet, John McLaughlin, John Moseman, Scott W. Muller, Patrick Philbin
CIA | ACLU-RDI 6513
This document is a CIA Report of Investigation regarding the rendition and detention of German citizen Khalid Al-Masri. The report concludes that there was an "insufficient basis to render and detain" Al-Masri, his prolonged detention was ...
Oversight Report
John L. Helgerson
Khalid Al-Masri
Physical assault
| ACLU-RDI 6516
This July 9, 2002 email from [redacted] to [redacted] re: Description of Physical Pressures, includes the contents of a memo from an operational psychologist describing "potential physical and psychological pressures" to be used on a particular ...
Non-legal Memo, Email
Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Threat, Mock Burial, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Other Humiliation
| ACLU-RDI 6520
This January 22, 2003 email is a message from [redacted] stating that he has informed the CTC that he no longer wants to be associated with the interrogation program "due to serious reservation" and will be retiring shortly.
| ACLU-RDI 6521
This April 21, 2005 email message encloses a rough draft of talking points to be used in rolling out the interrogation program to the public.
| ACLU-RDI 6479
This document is a CIA Memo drafted for the Deputy Director for Operations via the Associate Deputy Director for Operations/Counterintelligence. The memo contains background information related to the treatment and condition of detainees as it ...
Non-legal Memo
James Pavitt
James Pavitt
Gul Rahman
Use of water, Physical assault, General, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature
| ACLU-RDI 6478
This February 27, 2004 memo from James L. Pavitt, Deputy Director for Operations to the Inspector General, discusses the success of the CIA's new counterterrorism detention and interrogation program, by providing detailed accounts of the use of ...
Non-legal Memo
James Pavitt
Inspector General
EIT, Use of water
| ACLU-RDI 6491
This report details the investigation into the death of Gul Rahman.
Oversight Report
CIA Office of Inspector General
John Helgerson
Gul Rahman
EIT, Use of water, Physical assault, Cramped confinement, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Nudity
CIA | ACLU-RDI 6504
This document is a fax from [redacted], [redacted] Legal Group, DCI Counterterrorist Center, CIA to Steve Bradbury, Office of Legal Counsel, Department of Justice, containing answers composed by the CIA' s Office of Medical Services to the ...
Letter
Steve Bradbury
Steven G. Bradbury
EIT, SERE, Use of water, Water dousing, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Walling, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Temperature