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 (30)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Jan. 14, 2008 | ACLU-RDI 4508
Memo to the CIA Office of the Inspector General providing comments for its Special Review (17pg), with attachments (26pg).
May 27, 2008
Non-legal Memo
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
June 17, 2007 | ACLU-RDI 4509
Memo prepared by the CIA General Counsel to the CIA Office of the Inspector General contained legal analysis and conclusions.
May 27, 2008
Non-legal Memo
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
Apr. 08, 2007 | ACLU-RDI 4510
Document created by CIA component that includes a discussion of enhanced interrogation techniques.
May 27, 2008
Non-legal Memo
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
CIA | ACLU-RDI 4520
A heavily redacted memorandum from the Deputy Director of Central Intelligence to the Deputy Director for Operations, the DCI Counterterrorist Center, and Senior Deputy General Counsel re the Interrogation of Abu Zabaydah.
May 27, 2008
Non-legal Memo
Abu Zubaydah
EIT, Waterboarding, Use of water
| ACLU-RDI 4521
Heavily redacted report regarding the "successful raid and capture of Abu Zubaydah". The document references the use of waterboarding during Abu Zabaydah interrogations. The document also mentions that waterboarding was used in the interrogation ...
May 27, 2008
Non-legal Memo
Abu Zubaydah
EIT, Waterboarding, Use of water
Aug. 12, 2002 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 4524

A heavily redacted cable from the field to CIA headquarters relating to the status of Abu Zubaydah.  The unredated portions refer to the waterboarding of Abu Zubaydah.

May 27, 2008
Non-legal Memo, Cable
Abu Zubaydah
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
| ACLU-RDI 6553
This July 9, 2002 email from [redacted] to [redacted] re: Description of Physical Pressures, includes the contents of a memo from Jim Mitchell describing "potential physical and psychological pressures" to be used on a particular detainee. The ...
Non-legal Memo, Email
James Mitchell
Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Threat, Mock Burial, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Other Humiliation
Oct. 29, 2003 | CIA-OIG | ACLU-RDI 6528
This report, issued by John Helgerson, examines whether CIA interrogators used unauthorized interrogation techniques on high value detainees, including Abd al-Rahman Al-Nashiri.
Non-legal Memo, Oversight Report, Investigative File
John Helgerson
John Helgerson, James Pavitt
Abd Al-Rahim Al-Nashiri
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Threat, Sleep deprivation
Aug. 27, 2004 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 6534
This heavily redacted memo contains notes from a meeting on specific interrogation techniques, including the waterboard, sleep deprivation, and water dousing, between DOJ attorneys, including Dan Levin and Steven Bradbury, and CIA personnel. ...
Non-legal Memo
Daniel B. Levin, Steven Bradbury
Waterboarding, Water dousing, Sleep deprivation, Use of water
| ACLU-RDI 6516
This July 9, 2002 email from [redacted] to [redacted] re: Description of Physical Pressures, includes the contents of a memo from an operational psychologist describing "potential physical and psychological pressures" to be used on a particular ...
Non-legal Memo, Email
Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Threat, Mock Burial, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Other Humiliation