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 (26)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Jan. 31, 2003 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 6605
This cable includes the text of the January 28, 2003 DCI approved "Guidelines on Interrogations Conducted Pursuant to the Presidential Memorandum of Notification of 17 September 2001". The cable also asks that all personnel involved in ...
Sept. 26, 2016
Cable
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding, 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, Other Humiliation, Other
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
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
| ACLU-RDI 6555
This document is a CIA Memo drafted for the Deputy Director for Operations via the Associate Deputy Director for Operations/Counterintelligence. The previous release of this document (on June 13, 2016) included more redactions such as Bruce ...
Sept. 30, 2016
Non-legal Memo
James Pavitt
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
Jan. 28, 2003 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 6509
These guidelines, issued by George Tenet, detail permissible interrogation techniques (including EITs), medical and psychological personnel who must be present, interrogation personnel, approvals required, and recordkeeping requirements.
June 10, 2016
Non-legal Memo, Chart/List
George Tenet
George J. Tenet
EIT, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Other Humiliation
June 20, 2014 | Legislative | ACLU-RDI 5937
This document expresses the minority views of Vice Chairman Chambliss and Senators Burr, Risch, Coats, Rubio, and Coburn written in response to the full Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency's Detention and Interrogation Program. ...
June 20, 2014
Oversight Report
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
John A. Rizzo, Steven G. Bradbury, George W. Bush, Ali Soufan, Pasquale D'Amuro
Abu Zubaydah, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Jose Padilla, Hassan Ghul
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Threat, Cramped confinement, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Nudity, Other Humiliation
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. 03, 2014 | Legislative | ACLU-RDI 5935
In March 2009, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence decided to initiate a review of the CIA’s detention and interrogation program. On December 13, 2012 the Committee voted to approve its Study of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Detention ...
Apr. 08, 2009
Oversight Report
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Website
John Helgerson, Alberto Gonzalez, David Addington, Bruce Jessen, James Mitchell , Steven Bradbury, Jose Rodriguez, Rizzo, Condoleezza Rice, Richard B. Cheney, George Bush, John Ashcroft, Donald Rumsfeld, George Tenet, William "Jim" Haynes, John Yoo, Jay Bybee
EIT, SERE, Use of water, Waterboarding, Water dousing, Other, Physical assault, General, 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, Sexual, Religious, Forced grooming, Forced physical training
Apr. 30, 2004 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5104
CIA copy of a New Yorker article tracing the responsibility for American soldiers brutalizing Iraqis at Abu Ghraib.
Mar. 15, 2013
Other
Janis Leigh Karpinski, Ricardo Sanchez, Antonio Taguba, Ivan L. Frederick, II, Charles A. Graner, Jr., Javal Sean Davis, Megan M. Ambuhl, Sabrina D. Harman, Jeremy C. Sivits, Lynndie Rana England, Joseph M. Darby, Scott Bobeck, Jerry Phillabaum, Donald J. Ryder, Jason Kennel, Thomas Pappas, Steven Jordan, Geoffrey D. Miller, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Ricardo Sanchez
EIT, Use of water, Water dousing, Other, Physical assault, General, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Sexual, Threat, Assault/death, Use of electricity, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual
CIA | ACLU-RDI 5083
CIA summary of 60 Minutes program on detainee abuse in Iraq. The summary details the program's review of the released Abu Ghraib photos and some of the U.S. army officials involved in the scandal.
Mar. 15, 2013
Non-legal Memo
Ivan L. Frederick, II, Mark Traecey Patrick Kimmitt, Janis Leigh Karpinski
EIT, Physical assault, General, Sexual, Threat, Use of electricity, Other Humiliation, Sexual