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 (1708)

This letter from Steven Bradbury to the CIA's Associate General Counsel is a response to the CIA's November 6, 2007 letter regarding the interrogation of [redacted]. This letter states that applying the interrogation technique in question for the ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Letter
Steven G. Bradbury
This Jan. 22, 2002 memo from Jay Bybee (OLC) to Alberto R. Gonzales (Counsel to Pres. George W. Bush) and William H. Haynes II (General Counsel of the DOD) responds to a request for advice on the effect of the War Crimes Act and the Geneva ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
Jay S. Bybee
Alberto Gonzalez | William J. Haynes, II
Alberto Gonzalez, William J. Haynes, II, Jay S. Bybee, George W. Bush
An OLC memo from John Yoo to John Rizzo regarding "what is necessary to establish the crime of torture." The memo states that an individual must act with the "specific intent" to inflict severe mental pain or suffering to have committed torture, ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
John C. Yoo
John A. Rizzo
John C. Yoo, John A. Rizzo, Jennifer Koester
This August 1, 2002 memo from John C. Yoo to Alberto Gonzales discusses standards of conduct for interrogations under the Torture Convention and under the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court.
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
John C. Yoo
Alberto Gonzalez
John C. Yoo, Alberto Gonzalez, Jay Bybee
This June 23, 2004 memo from Jack Goldsmith (OLC) to Scott W. Muller (General Counsel of the CIA) is a response to Muller's question of whether a redacted "terrorist operative" is a "protected person" and whether his [redacted] would violate the ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
Jack Goldsmith
Scott Muller
Jack L. Goldsmith, Scott W. Muller
This June 23, 2004 memo from Jack Goldsmith (OLC) to Scott W. Muller (General Counsel of the CIA) is a response to Muller's question of whether a redacted "terrorist operative" is a "protected person" and whether his [redacted] would violate the ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
Jack Goldsmith
Scott Muller
Scott W. Muller, Jack L. Goldsmith
This letter from Goldsmith to Muller addresses the use of interrogation techniques on a certain high-value detainee and is a follow-up to 2 previous memos approving 33 techniques (an OLC memo approved 9 and a memo from Secretary Rumsfeld approved ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo, Letter
Jack Goldsmith
Scott Muller
Jack L. Goldsmith, Scott W. Muller, John A. Rizzo, Jay Bybee, John Ashcroft, Donald H. Rumsfeld, James B. Comey
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
An OLC memo to the CIA addressing whether the use of four enhanced techniques, "dietary manipulation, nudity, water dousing, and abdominal slaps," in the interrogation of [redacted] would violate the law. The letter concludes that use of the ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo, Letter
Daniel B. Levin
John A. Rizzo
Daniel B. Levin, John A. Rizzo
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Stomach/abdominal slap, Dietary manipulation, Nudity
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 ...