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 (27)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Feb. 27, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4132
This is a State department Talking points and press guidance memo concerning the legal basis for the U.S. holding detainees at Guantanamo. The talking points highlight that the detainees are "enemy Combatants" and not Prisoners of War (POWs) and ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Evan T. Bloom, William Howard Taft, IV, James H. Thessin, Jonathan B. Schwartz, Edward R. Cummings, David W. Bowker, Mark F. Wong, John B. Bellinger, III, Eliana Davidson, Daniel P. Collins
Jan. 28, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4135
State Department talking points and press guidance on discussing the legal status of the Guantanamo detainees. The memo states that the legal status currently being reviewed and that the detainees are being treated humanely.
Dec. 30, 2004
Non-legal Memo
David A. Kaye, James H. Thessin, Evan T. Bloom
Sept. 02, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4138
This State Department email is a forwarding of several emails initiated by David A. Kaye with attachments described as: 1) A basic law of armed conflict paper for the interagency; 2) Contingency press guidance on the status of persons captured ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Email
David W. Bowker
Joshua L. Dorosin
Monica J. Tillery, David W. Bowker, Joshua L. Dorosin, David A. Kaye, Steven A. Solomon, Michael T. Peay, James H. Thessin, Jonathan B. Schwartz, Ronald J. Bettauer, Evan T. Bloom, James Burger , Charles A. Allen, Edward R. Cummings, Todd F. Buchwald
Sept. 02, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4139
This State Department email from David Bowker to Joshua Dorosin is the last in a series of emails initiated by JoAnn Dolan to Debbie Daumit with the comment: "Debbie: Hal is up at USUN covering a conference on Terrorism Convention and left a ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Email
David W. Bowker
Joshua L. Dorosin
Monica J. Tillery, David W. Bowker, Joshua L. Dorosin, David A. Kaye, Samuel M. Witten, Evan T. Bloom, Peter W. Mason, JoAnn J. Dolan
Jan. 15, 2002 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 3671
State Department talking points memo on addressing the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo. The memo poses potential questions and answers to be given in response.
Dec. 02, 2004
Non-legal Memo
David A. Kaye, Evan T. Bloom
Nov. 16, 2001 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3659
Letter refers to an attached memo regarding the historical treatment of detainees. [Letter is not included].
Nov. 23, 2004
Letter
Evan T. Bloom
William J. Haynes, II, Todd F. Buchwald, David W. Bowker, Joshua L. Dorosin, Harry R. Melone, Eric J. Pelofsky, Mary Comfort, Andre M. Surena, David Kay, Evan T. Bloom, Edward R. Cummings
Nov. 05, 2001 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3660
DOS Cover Sheet to attached papers requested by the Office of Global Criminal Justice from the Department Historian on Nuremberg and past U.S. detentions. [Documents are not included].
Nov. 23, 2004
Letter
Jonathan B. Schwartz, Edward R. Cummings, Todd F. Buchwald, David Kay, Andre M. Surena, Katherine M. Gorove, Evan T. Bloom, Thomas B. Heinemann, Ted A. Borek, D. Stephen Mathias, Marc Susser