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 (31)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Feb. 11, 2003 | Legislative | ACLU-RDI 4650
This Letter from Senator Jeff Bingaman, (D-NM) is an inquiry to State Department Under Secretary for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky concerning a Washington Post article published on December 26, 2002 which described U.S. interrogation methods ...
Dec. 02, 2004
Letter
Jeff Bingaman
Paula Dobriansky
Jesse Francis Bingaman, Jr., Paula J. Dobriansky
May 28, 2004 | Legislative | ACLU-RDI 4651
This document is a request by Rep. Ike Skelton to the State Department Subject: Requesting when the Department was advised of the February 2004 report of the International Committee of the Red Cross on the mistreatment of the detainees in Iraq
Dec. 02, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Ike Skelton
Isaac Newton Skelton IV
May 07, 2004 | Legislative | ACLU-RDI 2736
Letter seeking response regarding the contradiction between testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee and media reports regarding the investigation of abuses by contractors at Abu Ghraib.
Oct. 15, 2004
Letter
Patrick Leahy
John D. Ashcroft
Patrick Leahy, John D. Ashcroft, William E. Moschella
Manadel Al-Jamadi
Jan. 22, 2003 | Legislative | ACLU-RDI 3678
Senator John Kerry's letter to Paul V. Kelly of the State Department, forwarding a letter sent to Sen. Kerry by Dr. Michael Grodin of the Boston Center for Refugee Health & Human Rights requesting an immediate investigation into allegations to ...
Oct. 15, 2004
Letter
John Kerry
Paul V. Kelly
John Forbes Kerry, Paul V. Kelly
July 23, 2004 | Legislative | ACLU-RDI 3679
Letter from Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) requesting Sec. State Powell Dept's release several internal Administration documents regarding the treatment of enemy prisoners and combatants.
Oct. 15, 2004
Letter
Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
Colin L. Powell
Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Colin L. Powell
July 23, 2004 | Legislative | ACLU-RDI 3680
Letter from Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) requesting Sec. of State Powell to have the State Department provide the Committee on Foreign Relations with copies of documents, and any other legal memoranda prepared after September 11, 2001, that interpret ...
Oct. 15, 2004
Letter
Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
Colin L. Powell
Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Colin L. Powell
July 26, 2004 | Legislative | ACLU-RDI 2

Fax of letter from a constituent to Senator Cornyn stating: "I just read a story about 3 CIA personnel who may have killed three prisoners. The Agency submitted their reports to the Justice Dept. Interrogations on non-Americans by the ...

Letter
John Cornyn
John Cornyn
Oct. 18, 2004 | DOJ | Legislative | ACLU-RDI 4983
An exchange of letters between Senator Charles Grassley and Assistant Attorney General William E. Moschella regarding the OLC's August 2002 memo defining torture. Senator Grassley initiated the exchange by forwarding to AAG Moschella for response ...
Letter
William E. Moschella, Charles E. Grassley
July 27, 2005 | Legislative | ACLU-RDI 6065
The document includes portions of the transcript from the SASC hearing with Generals Craddock, Schmidt, and Furlow, regarding allegations of the abusive treatment of detainees and the Department of Defense's role in investigating such claims.
Interview (Transcript)
Randall Mark Schmidt, John T. Furlow, Bantz J. Craddock
Dec. 21, 2004 | Legislative | ACLU-RDI 5990
The document is a letter from Senator Patrick Leahy to FBI Director Robert Mueller, regarding the FBI's withholding of key information about the abusive treatment of prisoners in U.S. custody overseas.
Letter
Senator, Patrick Leahy
Robert S. Mueller
Patrick Leahy, Robert S. Mueller