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 (1708)

This letter from Steven Bradbury to John Rizzo memorializes the advice that Bradbury gave to Rizzo regarding whether the conditions of confinement used by the CIA in its covert overseas facilities are consistent with common Article 3 of the 1949 ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Letter
Steven G. Bradbury
John A. Rizzo
Steven G. Bradbury, John A. Rizzo
Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Other
This letter from Steven Bradbury to the CIA's Associate General Counsel is a response to the CIA's August 23, 2007 letter regarding the interrogation of [redacted]. This letter states that applying the interrogation technique in question for the ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Letter
Steven G. Bradbury
This letter from Steven Bradbury to the CIA's Associate General Counsel is a response to the CIA's November 7, 2007 letter regarding the interrogation of [redacted]. This letter states that applying the interrogation technique in question for the ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Letter
Steven G. Bradbury
This September 25, 2009 OLC memo from John Yoo finds that in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the President has the constitutional power to 1) retaliate against any person, organization, or state suspected of involvement in these attacks ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
John C. Yoo
Deputy Counsel to the President
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 April 15, 2009 OLC memo from David Barron states the withdrawal of four previous OLC opinions regarding CIA interrogation methods. The decision to withdraw the four opinions was made in connection with the consideration of these opinions for ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
David J. Barron
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
This is a list of 3 Classified DOJ Legal Opinions released in May 2005. There are three memos from Bradbury to Rizzo on the list: (1) Re: Application of 18 U.S.C. 2340-2340A to Certain Techniques that May Be Used in the Interrogation of High ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Chart/List
John A. Rizzo, Steven Bradbury
This memorandum from the Office of the Assistant Attorney General to Alberto Gonzales examines the legal standards of conduct for interrogations under the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment.