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 (248)

A CID investigation into the death of an Afghani civilian, Haji Sher Mohammad. Mr. Mohammad was being held in custody at FOB Salerno, Khowst, Afghanistan when he complained about being bitten by either a snake or a bee while in his cell. Mr. ...
Jan. 14, 2011
Investigative File (CID), Notes, Photograph, Medical (Autopsy, Death Certificate), Interview (Statement, Summaries/Notes)
Haji Sher Mohammad
Other
This document is a FBI Situation Report for FBI Detachment in Afghanistan. It contains logistical information about FBI presence as well as detainee information, summaries of detainee interviews, and updates about FBI missions throughout ...
Nov. 01, 2010
Other
Other
This document is a FBI Situation Report for FBI Detachment in Afghanistan. It contains logistical information about FBI presence as well as detainee information, summaries of detainee interviews, and updates about FBI missions throughout ...
Nov. 01, 2010
Other
Other

The DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) released this report investigating whether Department of Justice attorneys violated their ethical obligations in issuing several memoranda authorizing the use of Enhanced Interrogation ...

July 19, 2010
Oversight Report
Frank Wolf, Larry Thompson, Ted Ullyot, George J. Tenet, Steven G. Bradbury, Jay S. Bybee, John C. Yoo, Patrick Leahy, David S. Addington, John D. Ashcroft, John B. Bellinger, III, David Brant, Michael Chertoff, Adam Ciongoli, Paul Clement, James B. Comey, Alice Fisher, Timothy E. Flanigan, Ari Fleischer, Jack L. Goldsmith, Alberto R. Gonzales, Stephen Hadley, William J. Haynes, II, John L. Helgerson, H. Marshall Jarrett, Patrick Leahy, Daniel B. Levin, John McCain, John McLaughlin, Paul McNulty, Harriet Miers, Alberto Mora, Steven J. Morello, Scott W. Muller, Robert S. Mueller, Patrick Philbin, Colin L. Powell, Condoleeza Rice, John A. Rizzo, Chuck Rosenberg, Donald H. Rumsfeld, George W. Bush, Michael Mukasey, Mark Filip, Barack H. Obama, David Margolis, Michael Gelles, Robert J. Delahunty, Diane E. Beaver, Thomas J. Romig, David Leitch, John B. Wiegmann, Alan Kreczko, Christopher Schroeder
Abu Zubaydah, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Mohammed al Qahtani, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi
EIT, SERE, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Threat, Assault/death, Family/others, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Forced grooming, Manipulation of interrogator’s identity, Other
This CIA memo provides guidelines on interrogations of detainees, Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters. The memo is divided into the following sections: 1) Permissible Interrogation Techniques; 2) Medical and Psychological Personnel; 3) Interrogation ...

A list of bullet points discussing legal principles applicable to the CIA's detention and interrogation of detainees, including the use of the "enhanced interrogation techniques."  Many of the principles listed appear in the ...

A letter from the CIA to OLC requesting that the OLC reaffirm its analyses in several previously issued memos relating to interrogation.  The letter states that "we rely on the applicable law and OLC guidance to assess the lawfulness ...

Lengthy, but almost entirely redacted, document that apparently discusses the CIA’s detention and interrogation program for “high value targets.” The document provides some detail regarding the “standard” and ...

This document is an Initial Army CID report concerning allegations by a detainee that he was tortured for approximately 24 hours by agents of the FBI while held at the Baghdad International Airport detention facility. Records revealed that the ...
July 21, 2009
Oversight Report
Stomach/abdominal slap, Other, Physical assault
This email includes a chain of forwarded emails expressing an Army CID's desire to interview FBI special agents who are witnesses in an investigation surrounding allegations of prisoner abuse. The prisoner alleges to have been tortured in "an act ...
Apr. 27, 2009
Email
Toni M. Fogle
Use of water, Physical assault, Stress positions, Other