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 (286)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
NSC | ACLU-RDI 6599
This National Security Council memo summarizes the OLC's three May 2005 opinions for the CIA on the legality of its interrogation techniques.
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
SERE, Use of water, Waterboarding, Water dousing, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Threat, Assault/death, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Temperature, Nudity
Aug. 01, 2002 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 6558
This memorandum from the Office of the Assistant Attorney General to Alberto Gonzales examines the legal standards of conduct for interrogations under the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
Office of the Assistant Attorney General
Alberto R. Gonzales
Alberto R. Gonzales
Physical assault, Threat, Assault/death, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling
Aug. 31, 2006 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 6796
A letter providing legal advice regarding whether the conditions of detention at certain overseas CIA facilities are consistent with the applicable standards of the DTA. It concludes that the conditions of confinement did not constitute "cruel, ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
Steven G. Bradbury
John A. Rizzo
John A. Rizzo, Steven G. Bradbury
EIT, Cramped confinement, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Hooding/Goggling, Forced grooming, Other Humiliation
CIA | ACLU-RDI 6515
This document, prepared by the Chief of Medical Services, summarizes and reflects upon the rendition, detention and interrogation program. The findings include that in a particular no evidence was found that the use of waterboard produced ...
June 13, 2016
Non-legal Memo
Gul Rahman, Abu Zubaydah
EIT, SERE, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, General, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Threat, Mock Burial, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Nudity
June 13, 2014 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5936
This document is the CIA's response to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence's Study of the Central Intelligence Agency's Detention and Interrogation Program. "The comments presented in this paper on The Senate Select Committee on ...
Dec. 08, 2014
Non-legal Memo
The Honorable Dianne Feinstein | The Honorable Saxby Chambliss
Gul Rahman, Khalid Al-Masri, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding, Water dousing, Physical assault, Threat, Use of electricity, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Nudity, Other Humiliation
Sept. 14, 2003 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 5118
General Sanchez states in his memo that "[this] memorandum established the interrogation and counter-resistance policy for CJTF-7." The memo contains two enclosures: 1. Interrogation Techniques; 2. General Safeguards. Gen. Sanchez states that ...
Jan. 14, 2014
Non-legal Memo
Ricardo Sanchez
Ricardo Sanchez, Daniel Kazmier
Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Other
DOD | ACLU-RDI 5146
This is the CIA's copy of the final autopsy report of detainee Manadel Al-Jamadi. This document is contained within the full-length CID report linked to this document. Autopsy No.: ME 03-504; Iraqi National male, Manadel Al-Jamadi, was ...
Jan. 14, 2014
Medical (Autopsy)
Manadel Al-Jamadi
Physical assault, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling
DOD | ACLU-RDI 5136
This investigative report details the detention and interrogation of former Iraqi Army captain, Manadal Al-Jamadi, at the Abu Ghraib detention facility on November 3, 2003. All names of officials involved in the interrogation have been ...
Jan. 14, 2014
Investigative File (CID)
Manadel Al-Jamadi
Physical assault, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling
Dec. 04, 2003 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5042
CIA-run LexisNexis search results for "Iraq War News" and "mowhoush." Results include twelve published news articles relating to the death of Iraqi General Abed Hamed Mowhoush while in U.S. custody and under U.S. interrogation.
Mar. 15, 2013
Other
L. Paul Bremer
Abed Hamed Mowhoush
EIT, Hooding/Goggling, Environmental manipulation
Nov. 28, 2003 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5043
CIA copy of a Los Angeles Times article reporting the death of former Iraqi general Major General Abed Hamed Mowhoush.
Mar. 15, 2013
Other
Abed Hamed Mowhoush
EIT, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling