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 (24)

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, ...
This August 3, 2002 cable provides authorization to implement more aggressive techniques in the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, including the use of the water board and mock burial, as described in this cable. The cable also provides information ...
This CIA cable describes the phase of Abu Zubaydah's interrogation and states that he underwent confinement, walling and the waterboard during his initial cycle of interrogations. The cable also describes his general behavior in his cell as well ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
Abu Zubaydah
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Walling, Cramped confinement
This cable details the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah that took place on August 5, 2002 at the which the IC SERE psychologists were present. This interrogation included the use of walling, the water board, attention grab, confinement box, hooding, ...
This cable details the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah that took place on August 6, 2002. This interrogation included the use of walling, waterboarding "numerous times", attention grab, insult slap, confinement box, and hooding. The cable states ...
This September 2002 email chain discusses medical coverage and setting up for interrogations, which includes having James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen ready to do an initial psycholohical assessment so that they can get waterboard approval and ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Email
James Mitchell , Bruce Jessen
Abu Zubaydah
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
This July 2002 cable is a request for guidance from headquarters on the use of enhanced interrogation techniques. The cable expresses hesitation about using these techniques on subjects being held in solitary confinement without legal ...
This is a report from interrogators at COBALT, a CIA black site in Northern Kabul, Afghanistan, describing the status of Gul Rahman's interrogation. It is reported that Rahman was not responding to interrogation by Bruce Jessen; the responder ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Non-legal Memo, Email, Cable
Bruce Jessen
Gul Rahman
EIT, Use of water, Other, Physical assault, General, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature
This cable provides formal authorization to proceed with portions of the next phase of Abu Zubaydah's interrogation, which include "more aggressive techniques" in order to obtain information, that the interrogation team concludes he is ...

An OLC memo concluding that the CIA’s proposed interrogation plan for Abu Zubaydah — which contemplates methods including “insects placed in a confinement box” and “the waterboard” — does not violate ...