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 (5)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Nov. 13, 2001 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4703
This State Department Fact Sheet on the President's establishment of Military Commissions lists talking points on addressing issues and questions that might arise. The points highlight the following: i) The Order applies only to non-U.S. ...
June 08, 2005
Non-legal Memo
George W. Bush, Donald H. Rumsfeld
Nov. 13, 2001 | WH | ACLU-RDI 4704
Presidential Military Order concerning the Detention, Treatment and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War against Terrorism. The Order is the basis for the authority to apprehend, detain and place on trial via Military Commissions persons who ...
June 08, 2005
Non-legal Memo
George W. Bush
George W. Bush, Donald H. Rumsfeld
Nov. 13, 2001 | WH | ACLU-RDI 4377
White House Press Release on the Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War Against Terrorism. The memo/press release is broken in to sections that list: Findings; Definition and Policy; Orders and regulations that pertain ...
Dec. 23, 2004
Non-legal Memo, Other
George W. Bush
George W. Bush, Donald H. Rumsfeld
Dec. 13, 2001 | Non-US | ACLU-RDI 3208
This is a letter from an attorney representing a person detained by the U.S. to FBI Director Robert Mueller. In the letter the attorney states that he has reached out to DOD General Counsel William Hayne and Attorney General Ashcroft concerning ...
Dec. 15, 2004
Letter
Robert S. Mueller
William J. Haynes, II, Donald H. Rumsfeld, John D. Ashcroft, Robert S. Mueller
Dec. 03, 2001 | ACLU-RDI 3603
Letter from John Walker Lindh's attorney, James J. Brosnahan, requesting information on the location of his client, detained enemy combatant, John Walker Lindh. Mr. Brosnahan states in his letter that he needs the appropriate government official ...
Nov. 23, 2004
Letter
Colin L. Powell, John D. Ashcroft, Donald H. Rumsfeld, George J. Tenet, Robert M. McNamara, Jr.
John Walker Lindh