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 (133)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
July 13, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 6291
The document is a memorandum from the Department of Defense, regarding approved methods of interrogation. The document includes information on documents related to the Administration's interrogation policies, a congressional subpoena proposed by ...
June 15, 2011
Non-legal Memo
Carl Levin, John Warner, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Patrick Leahy, Dianne Feinstein, Alberto R. Gonzales, John D. Ashcroft, George Bush, Jay S. Bybee, John C. Yoo, William J. Haynes, II, Mary Walker, James T. Hill, Robert J. Delahunty, Colin L. Powell, William Howard Taft, IV, Antonio Taguba, Patrick Philbin, James C. Ho, Daniel J. Bryant, Ricardo Sanchez, Marc Warren
June 09, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 5840
This document is a Department of Defense (DOD) Memo from the Secretary of Defense, Donald H. Rumsfeld, to top DOD Department heads outlining procedures for investigating deaths of detainees in the custody of the Armed Forces. The memo states ...
Apr. 29, 2011
Non-legal Memo
Donald H. Rumsfeld
July 29, 2009 | OPR | ACLU-RDI 5022

The DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) released this report investigating whether Department of Justice attorneys violated their ethical obligations in issuing several memoranda authorizing the use of Enhanced Interrogation ...

July 19, 2010
Oversight Report
Frank Wolf, Larry Thompson, Ted Ullyot, George J. Tenet, Steven G. Bradbury, Jay S. Bybee, John C. Yoo, Patrick Leahy, David S. Addington, John D. Ashcroft, John B. Bellinger, III, David Brant, Michael Chertoff, Adam Ciongoli, Paul Clement, James B. Comey, Alice Fisher, Timothy E. Flanigan, Ari Fleischer, Jack L. Goldsmith, Alberto R. Gonzales, Stephen Hadley, William J. Haynes, II, John L. Helgerson, H. Marshall Jarrett, Patrick Leahy, Daniel B. Levin, John McCain, John McLaughlin, Paul McNulty, Harriet Miers, Alberto Mora, Steven J. Morello, Scott W. Muller, Robert S. Mueller, Patrick Philbin, Colin L. Powell, Condoleeza Rice, John A. Rizzo, Chuck Rosenberg, Donald H. Rumsfeld, George W. Bush, Michael Mukasey, Mark Filip, Barack H. Obama, David Margolis, Michael Gelles, Robert J. Delahunty, Diane E. Beaver, Thomas J. Romig, David Leitch, John B. Wiegmann, Alan Kreczko, Christopher Schroeder
Abu Zubaydah, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Mohammed al Qahtani, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi
EIT, SERE, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Threat, Assault/death, Family/others, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Forced grooming, Manipulation of interrogator’s identity, Other
July 02, 2004 | CIA-OGC | ACLU-RDI 4573

This letter from Scott Muller to John Bellinger concerns further discussions that clarified the approval of certain interrogation techniques. He writes, "the authorized techniques are those previously approved for use with Abu Zubaydah ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Letter
Scott W. Muller
John Bellinger | James B. Comey
Scott W. Muller, John B. Bellinger, III, James B. Comey, Donald H. Rumsfeld
Abu Zubaydah
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
July 07, 2004 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 4574

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 ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Legal Memo, Letter
Jack L. Goldsmith
Scott W. Muller
Jack L. Goldsmith, John A. Rizzo, Scott W. Muller, John A. Rizzo, Jay S. Bybee, John D. Ashcroft, James B. Comey, Donald H. Rumsfeld
EIT
Sept. 01, 2004 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 4584

An OLC memo from Daniel Levin (Acting Assistant Attorney General) to John Ashcroft (Attorney General) and James Comey (Deputy Attorney General), updating them on the status of interrogation advice. The letter contains sections for general ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Legal Memo
Daniel B. Levin
John D. Ashcroft | James B. Comey
Daniel B. Levin, John D. Ashcroft, James B. Comey, Jay S. Bybee, Alberto R. Gonzales, John A. Rizzo, John McLaughlin, William J. Haynes, II, John C. Yoo, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Jack L. Goldsmith, Scott W. Muller
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation
May 08, 2003 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 4854
Executive Summary discussing the U.S. Southern Command's request to use additional interrogation techniques. On April 16, 2003, the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, approved the following techniques: change of scenery down, which was ...
Jan. 05, 2007
Non-legal Memo
Donald H. Rumsfeld
Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Temperature, Manipulation of interrogator’s identity, Other
June 02, 2003 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 4789
Memorandum to General Geoffrey Miller regarding Secretary of Defense (SECDEF), Donald Rumsfeld's memorandum. The memo to Gen. Miller seeks clarification on the use of certain techniques, including a concern about the removal of the Koran from ...
Jan. 02, 2007
Non-legal Memo
James T. Hill
Geoffrey D. Miller
Geoffrey D. Miller, Donald H. Rumsfeld, James T. Hill
Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Other
Mar. 17, 2005 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 4790
Major General Michael Dunlavey was interviewed regarding his knowledge of detainee abuse at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (GTMO). MG Dunlavey arrived to GTMO on or about December 13, 2002 as the Commander of the Joint Task Force-170. In regards to ...
Jan. 02, 2007
Interview (Statement)
Michael E. Dunlavey , Randall Mark Schmidt, Paul Wolfowitz, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Michael R. Lehnert, Rick Baccus, Geoffrey D. Miller, Glenn A. Crowther, Albert T. Church
Physical assault, General, Threat, Stress positions, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Manipulation of interrogator’s identity
Mar. 29, 2005 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 4796
DOD interview of a former Staff Judge Advocate regarding her knowledge of detainee abuse at Guantanamo (GTMO). The former SJA was stationed at GTMO from June 2002 to June 2003. The former SJA recalled learning of an incident where a detainee's ...
Jan. 02, 2007
Interview (Statement, Summaries/Notes)
Glenn A. Crowther, Michael E. Dunlavey , Donald H. Rumsfeld, Geoffrey D. Miller
Environmental manipulation, Temperature, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Other