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 (4)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
May 10, 2005 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 6582
An OLC memo from Bradbury to Rizzo addressing whether the combined use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" (including waterboarding) violates the prohibition on torture. The memo concludes that it would not violate the torture statute if used ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
Steve Bradbury
John A. Rizzo
John A. Rizzo, Steven G. Bradbury, James B. Comey, Jay Bybee, Daniel B. Levin
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, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other
Aug. 06, 2004 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 6579
This letter from Levin to Rizzo addresses the use of waterboarding on a specific detainee. It concludes that "although it is a close and difficult question, the use of the waterboard technique in the contemplated interrogation of [redacted] ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo, Letter
Daniel B. Levin
John A. Rizzo
Daniel B. Levin, John A. Rizzo, Jay Bybee
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
July 22, 2004 | DOJ | ACLU-RDI 6578
In the letter to Acting CIA Director McLaughlin, Attorney General Ashcroft confirms his advice that the use of certain interrogation techniques (other than waterboarding) in the interrogation of a particular detainee outside territory subject to ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo, Letter
John D. Ashcroft
John E. McLaughlin
John McLaughlin, David Ayres, John A. Rizzo, Jay Bybee
Use of water, Waterboarding
Aug. 01, 2002 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 6542
This August 1, 2002 OLC memo from Jay Bybee to John Rizzo discusses whether certain proposed conduct in the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah would violate the prohibition against torture found at Section 2340A of title 18 of the U.S. Code. The memo ...
Legal Memo
Jay S. Bybee
John A. Rizzo
Jay Bybee, John A. Rizzo
Abu Zubaydah
EIT, SERE, Use of water, Waterboarding, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound