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 (23)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
May 10, 2005 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 4986

An OLC memo addressing whether the combined use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" (including waterboarding) violates the prohibition on torture.  The memo concludes that it would not.

Apr. 16, 2009
Legal Memo
Steven G. Bradbury
John A. Rizzo
Steven G. Bradbury, John A. Rizzo, James B. Comey, Jay S. 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
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
Nov. 08, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 2315
Report on an informal investigation conducted by Brigadier General Richard P. Formica into specific allegations of detainee abuse within CJSOTF-AP [Combined Joint Special Operating Task Force – Arabian Peninsula] and 5th SF [Special Forces] Group ...
June 15, 2006
Oversight Report, Investigative File
Richard P. Formica
Ricardo Sanchez, George R. Fay, Richard P. Formica
Use of water, Water dousing, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Sexual, General, Threat, Assault/death, Family/others, Use of electricity, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual
May 20, 2004 | DOA | OJAG | ACLU-RDI 1756

This Court Martial record (volume 5 of 8) discusses the court martial proceedings of Staff Sergeant Ivan L. Frederick, II, who was charged for offenses he committed while assigned to the Abu Ghraib Detention Facility on or about November 08, ...

Nov. 30, 2005
UCMJ (Court-Martial)
Ivan L. Frederick, II, Romie Leslie Brownlee, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Ricardo Sanchez, Antonio Taguba, George R. Fay, Megan M. Ambuhl, Charles A. Graner, Jr., Jeremy C. Sivits, Javal Sean Davis, Sabrina D. Harman, Armin J. Cruz, Lynndie Rana England, Paul J. Kern, Anthony R. Jones, Geoffrey D. Miller, Walter Wojdakowski, Barbara G. Fast, Janis Leigh Karpinski, Steven L. Jordan, Jason L. Jones, Togo D. West, Jr., Richard A. Coleman, J.L. Johnson, J.S. Mobley, Barbara G. Fast, Thomas Pappas
Use of water, Water dousing, Physical assault, Threat, Use of electricity, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Religious, Forced grooming, Other
June 06, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 727
This Sergeant was assigned to Abu Ghraib prison from May 22, 2003 to November 4, 2003. The Sergeant stated "MPs never used physical force, withheld food, humiliated or otherwise abused detainees as a control measure. Military Police (MP) were ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Statement)
Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity
June 03, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 758
Interviewee made more than one trip to AG. First was a an interrogator assigned to AG to review interrogation database/report protocol. Second as a member of Tiger Team. Observed the following techniques, sleep deprivation, altering of meal ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Transcript)
Geoffrey D. Miller, Thomas Pappas
Stress positions, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation
May 07, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 830
Interviewee arrived to AG around mid-October as the Day-shift Non-commissioned Officer in Charge. Stated that his/her job was to manage detainee sleep plans, and to make sure the detainees were showered, fed, and did not cause problems. ...
Mar. 03, 2005
Interview (Transcript)
Physical assault, General, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Forced grooming, Forced physical training
July 01, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 13

On 1/18/04, a detainee gave a statement about abuse he had suffered at Abu Ghraib and also stated that he had witnessed a translator forcibly sodomizing a male juvenile detainee while a female U.S. soldier observed and took pictures. (This ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID), Photograph
Charles A. Graner, Jr., Ivan L. Frederick, II, Megan M. Ambuhl, Javal Sean Davis, Sabrina D. Harman
Physical assault, Sexual, General, Stress positions, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual
July 02, 2004 | CID | ACLU-RDI 105
Investigations into numerous alleged abuses at Abu Ghraib Prison and Al-Ademeya Palace based on reports from CACI and Titan translation employees. Alleged abuses include the physical beatings and humiliation of various detainees, forced exercise ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Investigative File (CID)
Jacqueline J. Scott, John Peterson
Use of water, Water dousing, Other, Physical assault, Sexual, General, Threat, Assault/death, Family/others, Use of electricity, Stress positions, Use of phobias, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Religious, Forced physical training
May 13, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3842

Email includes news articles about high level detainees, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Abu Zubaydah and the "harsh" interrogation methods the CIA employs. The email includes another article, which reports specific accounts of abuse.

Dec. 30, 2004
Email
Jonathan B. Schwartz
Katherine M. Gorove | Michael J. Dennis
George W. Bush, Jonathan B. Schwartz, Katherine M. Gorove, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Frank E. Schmelzer , Michael J. Dennis, Mark P. Lagon, Lorne Craner, Michael G. Kozak, Miriam K. Hughes, Janice A. Smith
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah, Walid Bin Attash
Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Forced grooming