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 (166)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Jan. 28, 2003 | ACLU-RDI 6600
This document is a CIA Memo drafted for the Deputy Director for Operations via the Associate Deputy Director for Operations/Counterintelligence. The memo contains background information related to the treatment and condition of detainees as it ...
Sept. 26, 2016
Non-legal Memo
James Pavitt
Bruce Jessen, James Mitchell
Gul Rahman
EIT, SERE, Use of water, Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation
ODNI | ACLU-RDI 6658
This document is a memorandum from the chief of the Counterintelligence Evaluation Branch of the Counterespionage Group in the Counterintelligence Center about an interview conducted with John B. Jessen regarding the death of Gul Rahman.
Sept. 02, 2016
Non-legal Memo
Bruce Jessen
Gul Rahman
EIT, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Attention grasp, Walling, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity
Aug. 26, 2004 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 6580
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
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
Jan. 05, 2010 | ACLU-RDI 6614
This is a January 5, 2010 memorandum written by David Margolis, Associate Deputy Attorney General, to the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General. It contains Margolis' review of OPR's findings of misconduct against Yoo and Bybee. ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Non-legal Memo, Oversight Report
David Margolis
David Margolis, Jay S. Bybee, John C. Yoo, Steven Bradbury, Frank Wolf, Michael Mukasey, Mark Filip, Alberto R. Gonzales, Daniel B. Levin, Jack L. Goldsmith, Patrick Philbin, Adam Ciongoli, John D. Ashcroft, John A. Rizzo, Michael Chertoff
Abu Zubaydah
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, Other
July 29, 2009 | OPR | ACLU-RDI 6584
This Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) report was written in response to public debate over Jay Bybee's leaked memo titled "Standards of Conduct for Interrogation under 18 U.S.C. §§ 2340-2340A", which was replaced soon after by Daniel ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Oversight Report
Jay S. Bybee, John C. Yoo, Daniel B. Levin, Steven G. Bradbury, Patrick Philbin, Alberto R. Gonzales
Abu Zubaydah, Abd Al-Rahim Al-Nashiri, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Gul Rahman
EIT, SERE, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Sexual, Threat, Assault/death, Mock Burial, Rendition, Family/others, Use of electricity, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Religious, Forced grooming
NSC | ACLU-RDI 6597
This National Security Council memo discusses the use of the CIA's proposed EITs in the interrogation of high-value al Qaeda detainees. The memo divides the proposed EITs into two categories, "conditioning" and "corrective" and concludes that ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
EIT, SERE, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Nudity
NSC | ACLU-RDI 6599
This National Security Council memo summarizes the OLC's three May 2005 opinions for the CIA on the legality of its interrogation techniques.
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
SERE, Use of water, Waterboarding, Water dousing, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Threat, Assault/death, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Temperature, Nudity
Sept. 06, 2004 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 6797
Letter from Daniel Levin to John Rizzo discussing whether the use of twelve interrogation techniques in the interrogation of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani would violate any U.S. statute, the U.S. Constitution, or any treaty obligation of the U.S.
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
Daniel B. Levin
John A. Rizzo
John A. Rizzo, Daniel B. Levin
Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani
EIT, Use of water, 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, Nudity
May 30, 2005 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 6795
An OLC memo addressing whether certain enhanced interrogation techniques used by the CIA are consistent with the United States's obligations under Article 16 of the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
Steven G. Bradbury
John A. Rizzo
John A. Rizzo, Steven G. Bradbury, Daniel B. Levin, Jay S. Bybee, Jack L. Goldsmith, Scott W. Muller, George J. Tenet
Janat Gul, Hassan Ghul, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah, Abd Al-Rahim Al-Nashiri
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding, Water dousing, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Nudity