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 (6)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Mar. 08, 2003 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3827
Email refers to a Human Rights Watch report on abuse by U.S. forces at detention facilities in Afghanistan. The report alleges that U.S. forces operating in Afghanistan have arbitrarily detained civilians, used excessive force and mistreated ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Email
Robert K. Harris
JoAnn J. Dolan | Ed Cummings | Joshua L. Dorosin | Todd F. Buchwald
Robert K. Harris, JoAnn J. Dolan, Edward R. Cummings, Joshua L. Dorosin, Todd F. Buchwald, Monica J. Tillery, George W. Bush
June 22, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3835
Email discusses and includes a press release of a press briefing with Judge Alberto Gonzales. Judge Gonzales discusses, generally, the war on terror.
Dec. 30, 2004
Email
Thomas A. Johnson
Ed Cummings | Christopher N. Camponovo
Thomas A. Johnson, Edward R. Cummings, Christopher N. Camponovo, Alberto R. Gonzales, Russell K. LaMotte, Jacob K. Cogan, Rosemary A. DiCarlo, Janis Chapman-Gates, Susan P. Suh, Richard Grenell , Monica L. Cummings, Eric L. Owens , Daniel Dell'Orto, Keith B. Alexander, George W. Bush, William J. Haynes, II, Jay S. Bybee, John C. Yoo, Scott McClellan, James T. Hill, Mary Walker, Geoffrey D. Miller, John P. Abizaid, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Newt Minow, Lloyd Cutler
Mohammed al Qahtani, Jose Padilla, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
June 23, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3849
Emails discuss the Department of Defenses' recent release of documents, the documents apparently explained the types of interrogation techniques the U.S. employed in Guantanamo. However, the documents are being criticized as insufficient. The ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Email
Ed Cummings
JoAnn J. Dolan | Todd F. Buchwald | Joshua L. Dorosin | Steven A. Solomon | David Kaye
Edward R. Cummings, JoAnn J. Dolan, Todd F. Buchwald, Joshua L. Dorosin, Steven A. Solomon, David A. Kaye, Charles L. Daris, Donald H. Rumsfeld, George W. Bush, Ricardo Sanchez
Stress positions, Use of phobias, Nudity
June 07, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4070

Emails discuss and include a Wall Street Journal article entitled "Pentagon Report Set Framework for Use of Torture: Security or Legal Factors Could Trump Restrictions, Memo to Rumsfeld Argued." The article discusses a classified ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Email
Robert K. Harris
Edward R. Cummings | Samuel M. Witten | Tom Malionek | Jonathan B. Schwartz
Donald H. Rumsfeld, George W. Bush, James T. Hill, Condoleeza Rice, Patrick Leahy, William J. Haynes, II, Thomas Malionek, William J. Gehron, Robert K. Harris, Edward R. Cummings, Samuel M. Witten, Michael G. Kozak, James H. Thessin, Jonathan B. Schwartz, William Howard Taft, IV, Robert E. Dalton, Katherine M. Gorove, Lois L. Allder, Daphne W. Cook, Darlyce M. Eley
Threat, Family/others, Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Religious
May 07, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4176
Emails discuss talking points for use by the U.S. expert on the Committee Against Torture, discussing what the U.S. will say in response to prisoner abuses in Iraq. Talking points included.
Dec. 30, 2004
Email
Robert K. Harris
William Howard Taft, IV | James H. Thessin | Samuel M. Witten
Robert K. Harris, William Howard Taft, IV, James H. Thessin, Samuel M. Witten, Katherine M. Gorove, Jeffrey DeLaurentis, Elizabeth H. Richard, JoAnn J. Dolan, Edward R. Cummings, Aaron W. Jost, Mark P. Lagon, Elizabeth L. Riley, Anne R. Sorensen, Donald H. Rumsfeld, George W. Bush, Charles A. Allen, Patrick Rowan
Feb. 13, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4306
Email from Betsy Lippman to State Department officers concerning discussions with the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) legal division in a follow-up to discussions with ICRC President Kellenberger. The email is heavily redacted.
Dec. 17, 2004
Email
Bessy A. Lippman
Edward R. Cummings | David W. Bowker | Alan Kreczko | Arthur E. Dewey | James B. Foley | Kevin Edward Moley | Michael T. Peay | Nicholas M. Miscione | Dona R. Tarpey | Douglas Hunter
Michael T. Peay, Edward R. Cummings, David W. Bowker, Alan Kreczko, Douglas Hunter, Arthur E. Dewey , James B. Foley, Kevin Edward Moley, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Nicholas M. Miscione, George W. Bush