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 (6709)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Apr. 22, 2002 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 1335
Army memo in connection to an AR 15-6 investigation. The memo states the appointment of an Officer to investigate whether Special Forces Group Five (5) knowingly withheld requested documentation and photographic evidence from Dept. of Justice in ...
July 15, 2005
Non-legal Memo, Investigative File
Geoffrey C. Lambert
David Burford
David P. Burford, Geoffrey C. Lambert
John Walker Lindh
Apr. 22, 2002 | Non-US | ACLU-RDI 3737
Fax cover sheet accompanying letter from Frank A. Sieverts of the ICRC to David Kay of the DOS subject: "Here's the letter, copy faxed also today to Jim Burger. Not sure what happened to it originally -- we thought it had beem transmitted via the ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Letter
Frank A. Sieverts
David Kaye
David Kay
Apr. 24, 2002 | Non-US | ACLU-RDI 3738
Fax cover sheet from Frank A. Sieverts of the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) to Ed Cummings of the State Department with notation that a letter is attached for William Howard Taft, IV
Dec. 30, 2004
Letter
Frank A. Sieverts
Ed Cummings
William Howard Taft, IV
Apr. 24, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 6789
This April 2002 cable provides an updated interrogation plan for Abu Zubaydah, which includes descriptions of the physical environment, security measures, and interrogation process, including the use of interrogation techniques.
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
Abu Zubaydah
Cramped confinement, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature
Apr. 25, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 2402
This email contains four attached files on UK detainees in Guantanamo. The rest of the document is heavily redacted.
June 15, 2006
Email
Brian M. Pharr
JoAnn J. Dolan | Jonathan M. Crock | Susan F. Bryant | Judith B. Cefkin | Shelia J. Peters
Apr. 26, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4427
Email from Samuel Witten forwarding an email with attachments concerning President Issues/Military Orders.
Jan. 12, 2005
Cable
Samuel M. Witten
David W. Bowker | Linda Jacobson | JoAnn J. Dolan | Michael A. Newton | Denise Manning
Samuel M. Witten, Linda Jacobson, JoAnn J. Dolan, Michael A. Newton
Apr. 29, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3780
This State Department cable provides talking points concerning informing foreign governments about the transfer of their citizens/nationals to Guantanamo after they were picked-up on the battle field of Afghanistan, and policy guidance for ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Cable
Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell
Apr. 29, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3809
The U.S. Mission in Australia received a letter from an attorney purporting to represent a detainee at Guantanamo. The letter states that that "We are greatly concerned that has not been given due process, natural justice and fairness. We believe ...
Apr. 30, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4215
State Department cable distributes transcript from the April 30, 2002 press conference where a variety of subjects were addressed. Among the issued raised were: i) UK decision to treat detainees as POWs and transfer them to Afghan interim ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Cable
Colin L. Powell
Apr. 30, 2002 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 6726
This heavily redacted cable seems to describe a proposal for "turning up the heat" in the interrogation of detainee Abu Zubaydah. One unredacted sentence references moving onto "Option B" in the interrogation; another reveals the psychologists' ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Non-legal Memo, Cable
Abu Zubaydah
EIT