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
DOS | ACLU-RDI 4370
State Department talking points on the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo. The main points being made are: 1) All accusations of mistreatment are taken seriously and fully investigated; 2) Torture and other forms of cruel treatment committed by ...
Dec. 23, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Ronald W. Miller
George W. Bush, Ronald W. Miller, Rexon Y. Ryu, JoAnn J. Dolan
Mar. 27, 2003 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4191
Memo, among other things, describes the U.S. government's application of the Geneva Convention with respect to the War on Terrorism and differentiates the U.S. government's treatment of detainees from the Iraq's treatment of American detainees.
Dec. 30, 2004
Non-legal Memo
JoAnn J. Dolan | Ronald W. Miller
JoAnn J. Dolan, Ronald W. Miller, William Howard Taft, IV, James H. Thessin, Edward R. Cummings, Gregory W. Sullivan, Rhonda H. Shore, Charles L. Daris
May 05, 2003 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4109
State Department talking points memo entitled: Guantanamo: U.S. Policy on Detainees - May 5, 2003. The memo states: A process is underway to reach a final determination on all detainees. Each detainee will be prosecuted or continue to be detained ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Jonathan M. Crock
Donald H. Rumsfeld, Colin L. Powell, Jonathan M. Crock, JoAnn J. Dolan, Gregory M. Suchan, Bridget A. Brink, Dean H. Pittman
Mar. 26, 2003 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3978
DOS Memo from William H. Taft to Secretary of State Powell re: Photographing POWs and the Geneva Conventions. Summary redacted. Discussion explores the US position on photographing and/or releasing photographs of POWs.
Dec. 30, 2004
Non-legal Memo
William Howard Taft, IV
Colin L. Powell
William Howard Taft, IV, Colin L. Powell, Pierre-Richard Prosper, Edward R. Cummings, JoAnn J. Dolan, Joshua L. Dorosin, Ronald W. Miller, Steven A. Solomon
May 23, 2003 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3650
Memo confirming Sec. Powell's meeting with International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) President Kellenberger on May 27, 2004. Meeting objectives include discussing ICRC’s ongoing concerns regarding the treatment of detainees in Afghanistan ...
Nov. 23, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Arthur E. Dewey
Colin L. Powell
Arthur E. Dewey , Zalmay Mamozy Khalilzad, Frank E. Schmelzer , P. Michael McKinley, JoAnn J. Dolan, Ronald W. Miller, Carol T. Santos, Frank E. Schmelzer , Colin L. Powell
May 11, 2003 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3646
DOS Memo from Arthur E. Dewey to Sec. Powell requesting an meeting with ICRC President, Jakob Kellenberger on either May 27 or 28. The purpose of the meeting is to exchange views on key humanitarian issues relating to detainees in Iraq.
Nov. 23, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Richard L. Greene
Colin L. Powell
Daniel B. Smith, Richard L. Greene, Arthur E. Dewey , Frank E. Schmelzer , Condoleeza Rice, Paula J. Dobriansky, William Howard Taft, IV, Donald H. Rumsfeld, P. Michael McKinley, Jonathan S. Carpenter, JoAnn J. Dolan, Ronald W. Miller, Colin L. Powell