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 (39)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
June 13, 2014 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5936
This document is the CIA's response to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence's Study of the Central Intelligence Agency's Detention and Interrogation Program. "The comments presented in this paper on The Senate Select Committee on ...
Dec. 08, 2014
Non-legal Memo
The Honorable Dianne Feinstein | The Honorable Saxby Chambliss
Gul Rahman, Khalid Al-Masri, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding, Water dousing, Physical assault, Threat, Use of electricity, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Nudity, Other Humiliation
Dec. 30, 2004 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 4586

A background paper on the CIA's combined use of interrogation techniques, addressed to Daniel Levin, Acting Assistant Attorney General. The document states that "Effective interrogation is based on the concept of using both physical and ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Non-legal Memo, Letter
Daniel B. Levin
Daniel B. Levin
EIT, 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, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity
Dec. 01, 2004 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 4587

A fax (sent January 15, 2005) from the CIA to the OLC of the December 2004 OMS Guidelines on Medical and Psychological Support to Detainee Rendition, Interrogation, and Detention. The document is heavily redacted but describes the enhanced ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Non-legal Memo, Medical (Psychological)
Daniel B. Levin
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, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Forced grooming
DOD | ACLU-RDI 2407
This DOD memo is to address allegations of detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib in the wake of news reports and features, i.e. Sixty Minutes II, The New York Times, and The New Yorker. It lists the events and action taken in response and specifically ...
June 15, 2006
Non-legal Memo
Mark Traecey Patrick Kimmitt
Physical assault, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual
July 26, 2003 | DON | ACLU-RDI 649
USMC Investigation into incident of abuse where a superior officer ordered a subordinates to take a detainees’ money, strip them naked to their underwear and release them in their underwear. Some soldiers protested. Investigator recommends ...
May 15, 2006
Non-legal Memo, Investigative File
John F. Kelly
Threat, Assault/death, Nudity
Sept. 01, 2004 | DON | ACLU-RDI 651
On June 23, 2003 Marines detained four Iraqi men for looting. The men were searched, stripped of their clothes (except for their shoes and underwear), and then released. On June 28, 2003 fired upon and disabled a truck that attempted to speed ...
May 15, 2006
Non-legal Memo, Investigative File
Henry P. Osman
Henry P. Osman, William A. Navas, Jr
Physical assault, General, Nudity
May 05, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 2267
The executive summary, dated May 5, 2004, contains a table listing Military Police officers from the 377th Military Police Company who were flagged for various offenses. The pending investigations concern the deaths of two Bagram detainees ...
Feb. 15, 2006
Non-legal Memo
David D. McKiernan, Antonio Taguba, Ricardo Sanchez, Thomas F. Metz, James R. Helmly, Ivan L. Frederick, II, Javal Sean Davis, Megan M. Ambuhl, Charles A. Graner, Jr., Sabrina D. Harman, Jeremy C. Sivits, Michael N. Ertman, Mark Traecey Patrick Kimmitt, Lynndie Rana England
Physical assault, Sexual, General, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Other
July 16, 2004 | ACLU-RDI 2310
Discusses incidents of abuse of detainees by Army personnel that have been substantiated. Legal discussion point out that Article 93 does not specifically prohibit these acts, but does prohibit cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment and intent ...
Feb. 15, 2006
Non-legal Memo
Physical assault, General, Assault/death, Stress positions, Use of phobias, Nudity, Sexual, Religious, Threat, Other Humiliation
May 21, 2002 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 3384
Interview of a detainee at Camp Delta, Guantanamo Bay. The detainee was asked about his affiliation with the Taliban/Al Qaeda. The detainee stated that he "did not use anti-American rhetoric in his lectures." Also stated that in Bagram, he was ...
May 18, 2005
Non-legal Memo, Interview (Summaries/Notes)
Nudity
Mar. 27, 2003 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 3437
Interview of a detainee at Camp Delta, Guantanamo Bay. The detainee was visably sick when interviewed, and remained so through out. Detainee stated that he had no connection to terrorism and knew nothing about the September 11, 2001 attacks other ...
May 18, 2005
Non-legal Memo, Interview (Summaries/Notes)
Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual