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 (78)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Jan. 28, 2003 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 6509
These guidelines, issued by George Tenet, detail permissible interrogation techniques (including EITs), medical and psychological personnel who must be present, interrogation personnel, approvals required, and recordkeeping requirements.
June 10, 2016
Non-legal Memo, Chart/List
George Tenet
George J. Tenet
EIT, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Other Humiliation
Jan. 04, 2004 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5102
CIA copy of an article from the London Independent on Sunday reporting on the death of a son of an Iraqi policeman and the "brutal" treatment of some Iraqi prisoners while in British custody. The article describes physical beatings and violent ...
Mar. 15, 2013
Other
Robert Harkins, William Moore
Baha Mousa, Kifah Taha
EIT, Physical assault, General, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Stress positions, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling
Apr. 30, 2004 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5104
CIA copy of a New Yorker article tracing the responsibility for American soldiers brutalizing Iraqis at Abu Ghraib.
Mar. 15, 2013
Other
Janis Leigh Karpinski, Ricardo Sanchez, Antonio Taguba, Ivan L. Frederick, II, Charles A. Graner, Jr., Javal Sean Davis, Megan M. Ambuhl, Sabrina D. Harman, Jeremy C. Sivits, Lynndie Rana England, Joseph M. Darby, Scott Bobeck, Jerry Phillabaum, Donald J. Ryder, Jason Kennel, Thomas Pappas, Steven Jordan, Geoffrey D. Miller, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Ricardo Sanchez
EIT, Use of water, Water dousing, Other, Physical assault, General, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Sexual, Threat, Assault/death, Use of electricity, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual
May 17, 2011 | ACLU-RDI 6388
This document is a list featuring descriptions of various abuses that occurred throughout Afghanistan. Most of the abuses involved slapping and punching.
June 15, 2011
Chart/List
Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Facial hold
Jan. 09, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 5603
This is the Autopsy Report and Death Certificate of Manadel Al-Jamadi, a detainee at Abu Ghraib Prison. The Report states that Mr. Al-Jamadi was taken in to custody by Navy SEALs and sustained injuries during his capture that led to his death. It ...
Jan. 14, 2011
Medical (Autopsy, Death Certificate)
Manadel Al-Jamadi
Physical assault, General, Stomach/abdominal slap, Stress positions, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling
May 11, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 5608
This is the Autopsy Report and Death Certificate of Dilar Dababa, who died while in US custody. It is reported that Mr. Dababa was injured when he was re-captured following an escape from custody. It is reported that Mr. Dababa when US forces ...
Jan. 14, 2011
Medical (Autopsy, Death Certificate)
Dilar Dababa
Physical assault, Stomach/abdominal slap
July 29, 2009 | OPR | ACLU-RDI 5022

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
July 20, 2007 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 4552

An OLC memo addressing whether the CIA may use 6 "enhanced interrogation techniques" in the interrogation of high value detainees: (1) dietary manipulation, (2) extended sleep deprivation, (3) facial hold, (4) attention grasp, (5) ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Legal Memo
Steven G. Bradbury
John A. Rizzo
John A. Rizzo, Steven G. Bradbury, John McCain, Duncan Lee Hunter, Patrick Leahy, Jesse Francis Bingaman, Jr., Hillary Clinton, John Warner, Richard J. Durbin, Christopher H. Shays, Patrick Philbin, Michael Hayden, Condoleeza Rice, Antonio Taguba
Abd al Hadi al Iraqi, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah, Jose Padilla, Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri
EIT, SERE, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Assault/death, Use of electricity, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Temperature, Nudity, Sexual, Use of water, Threat, Other Humiliation
Jan. 28, 2003 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 4562
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 ...
Aug. 24, 2009
Non-legal Memo
George Tenet
George J. Tenet
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Other
Apr. 28, 2003 | CIA-OGC | ACLU-RDI 4563

A letter from Scott Muller, general counsel of the CIA, to John Yoo, OLC, enclosing a list of legal principles applicable to the CIA's detention and interrogation of detainees, including the use of the "enhanced interrogation ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Legal Memo, Letter
Scott W. Muller
John C. Yoo
John C. Yoo, Scott W. Muller
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound