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 (45)

This document was faxed from the CIA to Steven Bradbury (OLC). It describes the CIA's technique of "horizontal sleep deprivation," wherein a detainee is placed on a large blanket on the floor and chained such that he cannot sleep. ...

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 ...

Redacted certification sheet used in CIA interrogation training. [OIG Remand Vaughn #Other-93]

Blank “Enhanced Pressures” sheet used in waterboarding training. [OIG Remand Vaughn #Other-103]

Aug. 24, 2009
Non-legal Memo
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
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
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
Document created by CIA component that includes a discussion of enhanced interrogation techniques.
May 27, 2008
Non-legal Memo
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
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
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

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