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 (43)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Sept. 06, 2004 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 6797
Letter from Daniel Levin to John Rizzo discussing whether the use of twelve interrogation techniques in the interrogation of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani would violate any U.S. statute, the U.S. Constitution, or any treaty obligation of the U.S.
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
Daniel B. Levin
John A. Rizzo
John A. Rizzo, Daniel B. Levin
Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani
EIT, Use of water, Water dousing, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Nudity
Sept. 20, 2004 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 6794
An OLC memo to the CIA addressing whether the use of "twelve particular interrogation techniques (attention grasp, walling, facial hold, facial slap (insult slap), cramped confinement, wall standing, stress positions, sleep deprivation, dietary ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
Daniel B. Levin
John A. Rizzo
John A. Rizzo, Daniel B. Levin
Sharif al-Masri
EIT, Use of water, Water dousing, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Nudity, Physical assault
Mar. 13, 2007 | ACLU-RDI 6711
This memo describes the CIA's rendition, detention, and interrogation program, including the legal authorities under which the program operates and the safeguards and controls that have been undertaken to prevent deviation, improvisation, abuse ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Legal Memo, Non-legal Memo
Abd Al-Rahim Al-Nashiri, Abu Zubaydah, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Riduan "Hambali" Isamuddin, Janat Gul, Sharif al-Masri, Abu Musab al-Baluchi, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Nudity
| ACLU-RDI 6703
This memo includes: 1) a chronology detailing the evolution of the CIA's High-Value Detainee Interrogation Techniques, how they were defined, legalized, and authorized; 2) a report on the intelligence collected after the application of the ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Non-legal Memo
Abu Zubaydah, Abdul Hadi Al-Iraqi, Mohammed Rahim Noori, Walid Bin Attash, Abd al Aziz Ali, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Issa al-Hindi, Hassan Ghul, Riduan "Hambali" Isamuddin, Abu Talha al-Pakistani, Jafaar al-Tayyar, Jose Padilla, Binyam Mohamed
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding, Water dousing, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Threat, Mock Burial, Rendition, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Forced grooming, Physical assault
Jan. 05, 2010 | ACLU-RDI 6614
This is a January 5, 2010 memorandum written by David Margolis, Associate Deputy Attorney General, to the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General. It contains Margolis' review of OPR's findings of misconduct against Yoo and Bybee. ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Non-legal Memo, Oversight Report
David Margolis
David Margolis, Jay S. Bybee, John C. Yoo, Steven Bradbury, Frank Wolf, Michael Mukasey, Mark Filip, Alberto R. Gonzales, Daniel B. Levin, Jack L. Goldsmith, Patrick Philbin, Adam Ciongoli, John D. Ashcroft, John A. Rizzo, Michael Chertoff
Abu Zubaydah
EIT, SERE, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Threat, Assault/death, Family/others, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Forced grooming, Other
Mar. 02, 2004 | CIA-OGC | ACLU-RDI 6608
A letter from the CIA to OLC requesting that the OLC reaffirm its analyses in several previously issued memos relating to interrogation. The letter states that "we rely on the applicable law and OLC guidance to assess the lawfulness of detention ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo, Letter
Scott W. Muller
Jack L. Goldsmith
Jack L. Goldsmith, Scott W. Muller, Alberto R. Gonzales, Jay S. Bybee, John A. Rizzo
EIT, SERE, Use of water, Waterboarding, Water dousing, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Other
June 16, 2003 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 6607
A list of bullet points discussing legal principles applicable to the CIA's detention and interrogation of detainees, including the use of the "enhanced interrogation techniques." Many of the principles listed appear in the OLC's interrogation ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo, Letter
Patrick Philbin
Patrick Philbin
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Other
Jan. 31, 2003 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 6605
This cable includes the text of the January 28, 2003 DCI approved "Guidelines on Interrogations Conducted Pursuant to the Presidential Memorandum of Notification of 17 September 2001". The cable also asks that all personnel involved in ...
Sept. 26, 2016
Cable
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Other Humiliation, Other
NSC | ACLU-RDI 6599
This National Security Council memo summarizes the OLC's three May 2005 opinions for the CIA on the legality of its interrogation techniques.
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
SERE, Use of water, Waterboarding, Water dousing, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Threat, Assault/death, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Temperature, Nudity
NSC | ACLU-RDI 6597
This National Security Council memo discusses the use of the CIA's proposed EITs in the interrogation of high-value al Qaeda detainees. The memo divides the proposed EITs into two categories, "conditioning" and "corrective" and concludes that ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
EIT, SERE, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Nudity