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 (4791)

RelevanceDateRelease Date

A memo from John Yoo to John Bellinger analyzing whether the President may suspend certain articles of the ABM treaty.  The concludes that in both cases proposed, the president may suspend the articles.

Mar. 02, 2009
Legal Memo
John C. Yoo | Robert J. Delahunty
John Bellinger
John C. Yoo, John B. Bellinger, III, Robert J. Delahunty

An OLC memo concluding that, “the President has plenary constitutional authority, as the commander in chief, to transfer such individuals who are held and captured outside the United States to the control of another country.” ...

This memo considers the use of military force to prevent or deter terrorist activity domestically and concludes that, “the President has both constitutional and statutory authority to use the armed forces in military operations, against ...

The memo discusses whether a change to the FISA law would render it unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment. Specifically it considers and concludes that changing the law from requiring that foreign intelligence gathering be “the ...

Mar. 02, 2009
Legal Memo
John C. Yoo
David S. Kris
John C. Yoo, David S. Kris

This CID Report investigates numerous allegations of abuse that occurred in September and November of 2003 in Iraq’s Abu Ghraib Prison. Included in the file is the testimony of detainee victims and members of the 372nd Military Police ...

An investigation into alleged aggravated assault, cruelty, and maltreatment of an Iraqi prisoner by U.S. forces.  The detainee stated that he was held at the "Disco" (a detention facility in Mosul, Iraq) for approximately one ...

This report investigates alleged the Homicide or Involuntary Manslaughter of a detainee, Dilar Dababa, by U.S. Forces. On the evening of June 12, 2003, Dababa was captured by Coalition Forces and transported to Baghdad International Airport ...
Nov. 05, 2008
Investigative File (CID)
Dilar Dababa
General, Forced physical training, Physical assault

This document contains several Court-Martial following an investigation into the deaths of two (2) detainees at the Bagram Control Point (BCP) in Bagram, Afghanistan. Both detainees were determined to have been killed by blood clots that were ...

Nov. 05, 2008
Investigative File (CID), UCMJ (Court-Martial)
Habibullah, Dilawar
Physical assault, General
This CID investigation into claims made by three Iranian detainees alleging they knew of a fellow Iranian being murdered at Airbase H3, Iraq. They allege the murder took place while they were being detained and interrogated by Coalition Forces. ...

This CID investigation relates to allegations of prisoner maltreatment and abuse by an Iraqi individual captured on July 22, 2004. The detainee alleges he was abused by members of the CIA while being held in a small room at an unknown location ...

Oct. 01, 2008
Investigative File (CID), Photograph
Physical assault, Threat, Assault/death