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 (277)

Email between DOD officials discussing development of an Interrogation Policy and tactics, techniques and procedures (TTP).
Letter from one DOD official to another DOD official concerning the discovery of a PowerPoint presentation containing 49 slides of pictures of abuse by US troops in Iraq in the very early phase of the war. Slides include pics of Iraqi men ...
June 30, 2006
Letter
Trent Lott
Letter is a response to questions from Senator Leahy regarding the treatment of detainees in US custody. The letter denies the use of hoods, stripping or stress positions. States that "Lt Gen. Sanchez's 05/13/2004 memo prohibits the use of ...
Statement of a soldier to Defense Intelligence Agency Inspector General, at Arlington VA, on 06/10/2004 about alleged violations of the Geneva Conventions. Facts of the incident are redacted. Person stated that the "episode did not appear to be ...
June 30, 2006
Investigative File, Interview (Summaries/Notes)
Physical assault
A soldier was interviewed on 06/09/2004 and a follow-up interview was conducted on 06/10/2004 regarding possible Iraqi detainee abuse while deployed in support of a task force. Heavily redacted.
Interview of soldier by a Special Agent of the DIA Office of Inspector General. The soldier reported that ineffective interrogation techniques were being used by the Task Force. It is alleged in this interview that suspected detainees were being ...
Report of investigation by the Office of the Inspector General of the Defense Intelligence Agency regarding a matter of detainee abuse that was also investigated by the Army CID (0037-04-CID201-54050). This report concluded that an un-named ...
June 30, 2006
Oversight Report
Physical assault
Army memorandum addressed to the Commander of the Combined/Joint Task Force (CJTF)-I80, Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. The subject is "Administrative Reprimand" and the document relates to an investigation conducted by the Army CID ...
June 30, 2006
Non-legal Memo
Ricardo Sanchez
Instructions on what to do when notified of an Enemy Prisoner of War/defector is captured. When searching the person, "A JAG presence is a good idea; keep a JAG near-by if debriefing a Muslim-radical as they anticipate US torture and will claim ...
This memo details how a Staff Sergeant took photos of himself standing with his rifle with his left foot propped on the detainee's buttocks, who is lying in the sand with hands bound behind his back and a sack covering his head. Photo was taken ...
June 30, 2006
Non-legal Memo
Physical assault, Other Humiliation