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
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
Apr. 30, 2004 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5081
CIA copy of London Sky News article describing Prime Minister Tony Blair's response to photographs showing American soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib.
Mar. 15, 2013
Other
Tony Blair, Mark Traecey Patrick Kimmitt, Ivan L. Frederick, II
EIT, Threat, Use of electricity, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Other, Environmental manipulation
Apr. 30, 2004 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5082
CIA copy of Antiwar.com article describing the release of photographs revealing abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison.
Mar. 15, 2013
Other
Janis Leigh Karpinski, Donald H. Rumsfeld
EIT, Threat, Use of electricity, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual
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
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 | 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
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
Dec. 01, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 6706
This cable describes the enhanced interrogation techniques that interrogation teams can employ, pending approval and sets forth federal law which limits the use of these techniques by U.S. government personnel and requires that interrogation ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Legal Memo
EIT, SERE, 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, Other Humiliation
Dec. 01, 2002 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 6728
This is a moderately redacted cable which summarizes the mechanics and legal basis for use of enhanced interrogation techniques on detainees. The cable states that "our attorneys have presented our legal analysis to the legal adviser to the NSC, ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Legal Memo, Cable
EIT, SERE, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Attention grasp, Walling, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Other Humiliation, Sexual
Aug. 11, 2002 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 6662
This cable provides a report of day 8 of the cycle of interrogation carried out on detainee Abu Zubaydah on August 11, 2002. It includes details of interrogators using a combination of waterboarding, walling, cramped confinement, and hooding in ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
Abu Zubaydah
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Walling, Cramped confinement, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Other Humiliation, Forced grooming