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 (43)

This December 30, 2004 OLC memo from Daniel Levin interprets the federal criminal prohibition against torture. This memo supersedes the August 2002 memorandum ("Standards of Conduct under 18 U.S.C. §§ 2340–2340A") in its entirety.
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
Daniel B. Levin
Deputy Attorney General
This May 25, 2004 letter from Jack Goldsmith asks John Helgerson for time to review the description in the CIA's memo of the OLC's advice concerning interrogations in the war on terrorism, before it is sent to Congress.
Aug. 31, 2016
Letter
Jack L. Goldsmith
John L. Helgerson
Scott W. Muller, John L. Helgerson, Jack L. Goldsmith
An OLC memo to the CIA addressing whether the use of "twelve particular interrogation techniques (attention grasp, walling, facial hold, facial slap (insult slap), cramped confinement, wall standing, stress positions, sleep deprivation, dietary ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
Daniel B. Levin
John A. Rizzo
A letter from Jack Goldsmith to Scott Muller regarding the CIA Inspector General's Special Review of the CIA's interrogation program. The letter expresses concern at the fact that, according to the Special Review, aspects of the CIA's ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
Jack L. Goldsmith
Scott W. Muller
Jack L. Goldsmith, Scott W. Muller, John A. Rizzo
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
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.
An OLC memo to the CIA addressing whether the use of "twelve particular interrogation techniques (attention grasp, walling, facial hold, facial slap (insult slap), cramped confinement, wall standing, stress positions, sleep deprivation, dietary ...
Email 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.
Email from Daniel Levin to John Rizzo discussing whether the use of twelve interrogation techniques in the interrogation of Sharif al-Masri would violate any U.S. statute, the U.S. Constitution, or any treaty obligation of the U.S.
An OLC memo analyzing the Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in the Time of War ("GC"). The memo provides three opinions. Part I concludes that "GC governs the occupation of Iraq." Part II discusses GC's general ...
Mar. 15, 2013
Legal Memo
Jack Goldsmith
Scott Muller
William J. Haynes, II, Scott W. Muller, Jack L. Goldsmith, Alberto R. Gonzales

A letter from Jack Goldsmith to John Helgerson requesting time to review the descriotion of the OLC's advice in the Special Review before it is sent to Congress.  [OLC Vaughn Index #26]

Aug. 24, 2009
Letter
Jack L. Goldsmith
John L. Helgerson
Jack L. Goldsmith, John L. Helgerson, Scott W. Muller