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 (41)

This draft psychological assessment of Abu Zubaydah discusses his background, personality, emotional and mental skills, strengths, motivations, and future worldview, among other things. The document refers to the use of "initial ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Non-legal Memo, Medical (Psychological)
John C. Yoo
John C. Yoo
Abu Zubaydah

Memorandum for the record regarding a meeting with a senior CIA officer about the detention and interrogation program of the CIA. The unredacted portions of the document primarily discuss the alleged effectiveness of the program. [REDACTED] ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Non-legal Memo, Interview (Summaries/Notes)
Abu Zubaydah, Ramzi Bin al Shibh, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, Majid Khan, Abd al Aziz Ali, Walid Bin Attash, Mohd Farik Bin Amin

The Vaughn declaration of CIA Director Leon Panetta, discussing CIA records that describe the contents of the videotapes destroyed by the CIA.  The declaration notes that the records primarily concern the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah and ...

June 09, 2009
Judicial (Affidavit/Declaration, Vaughn Declaration/Index)
Leon E. Panetta
Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein
Leon E. Panetta
Abu Zubaydah
EIT

The CIA's Vaughn Index of records describing the contents of the interrogation videotapes destroyed by the CIA.  This Index was attached to Leon Panetta's Vaughn Declaration of the same date.  Most of the records listed in the Index ...

June 09, 2009
Judicial (Vaughn Declaration/Index)
Leon E. Panetta
Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein
Abu Zubaydah
EIT, Waterboarding, Use of water

A Vaughn index of CIA records, including cables sent from the field to headquarters, relating to the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah.  The CIA stated that the index includes the first half of the records created in August 2002 that describe ...

May 01, 2009
Judicial (Vaughn Declaration/Index)
John L. McPherson
Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein
Abu Zubaydah
Heavily redacted memo from DCI to Nat'l Sec. Advisor (4pgs) and memo from GC to DCI (1pg) with routers. Refers to DOJ's 2002 authorization for the CIA to employ certain techniques on certain high-value detainees (HVDs), and mentions waterboarding.
May 27, 2008
Non-legal Memo
George Tenet
George J. Tenet
Abu Zubaydah, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
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

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

A heavily redacted version of a report authored by the CIA's Office of the Inspector General.  The report was later released in less-redacted form.  It discusses the CIA's use of the "enhanced interrogation techniques," ...

Almost entirely redacted document entitled "Proposal for an enhanced interrogation strategy in the War on Terrorism." [OIG Vaughn # Other-51]

Aug. 14, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Abu Zubaydah