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)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Sept. 02, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4139
This State Department email from David Bowker to Joshua Dorosin is the last in a series of emails initiated by JoAnn Dolan to Debbie Daumit with the comment: "Debbie: Hal is up at USUN covering a conference on Terrorism Convention and left a ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Email
David W. Bowker
Joshua L. Dorosin
Monica J. Tillery, David W. Bowker, Joshua L. Dorosin, David A. Kaye, Samuel M. Witten, Evan T. Bloom, Peter W. Mason, JoAnn J. Dolan
Feb. 11, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 4187
State Department memo is a press guidance/talking points from the DOS discussing the reasons why the U.S. will not release the ICRC's report on the treatment of Guantanamo detainees.
Dec. 30, 2004
Non-legal Memo
David W. Bowker | Edward R. Cummings
Charles L. Daris, David W. Bowker, Edward R. Cummings
Apr. 02, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4213
State Department cable to Geneva Mission to deliver a letter to Theo van Boven, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, assuring him that "the [Guantanamo] detainees are not being subjected to mental or physical abuse," detailing nature of ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Cable
Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell, David W. Bowker, William Howard Taft, IV, Edward R. Cummings, Kevin Edward Moley
June 19, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4238
State Department cable concerning a meeting with the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) regarding the global war on terror, status of detainees and military commission.
Dec. 30, 2004
Cable
Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell, Edward R. Cummings, David A. Kaye, David W. Bowker, James Burger , Steven A. Solomon
May 21, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4239
State Department cable concerning a meeting with the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) regarding the Global War on Terror. The cable states there was an informal meeting with ICRC officials to discuss military commissions and the ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Cable
Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell, Edward R. Cummings, Steven A. Solomon, David W. Bowker, James Burger , Waldo W. Brooks , William Lietzau
Mar. 26, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4375
State Department talking points on the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) Rotational Move at Guantanamo. It concerns a report that the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) will be "pulling-out" of Guantanamo and have no ...
Dec. 23, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Edward R. Cummings, David W. Bowker, John Allen Buche
July 23, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4376
DOS Cover Sheet re: Routing and Transmittal Slip with the handwritten note "looks like the ball is in petitioner's court."
Dec. 23, 2004
Letter
JoAnn J. Dolan
William Howard Taft, IV | James H. Thessin | David W. Bowker
JoAnn J. Dolan, William Howard Taft, IV, James H. Thessin, David W. Bowker
Feb. 13, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4306
Email from Betsy Lippman to State Department officers concerning discussions with the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) legal division in a follow-up to discussions with ICRC President Kellenberger. The email is heavily redacted.
Dec. 17, 2004
Email
Bessy A. Lippman
Edward R. Cummings | David W. Bowker | Alan Kreczko | Arthur E. Dewey | James B. Foley | Kevin Edward Moley | Michael T. Peay | Nicholas M. Miscione | Dona R. Tarpey | Douglas Hunter
Michael T. Peay, Edward R. Cummings, David W. Bowker, Alan Kreczko, Douglas Hunter, Arthur E. Dewey , James B. Foley, Kevin Edward Moley, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Nicholas M. Miscione, George W. Bush
May 02, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3586
This State Department cable provides talking points for US mission & Embassy officials to inform foreign governments about the transfer of their citizens/nationals to Guantanamo after they were picked-up on the battle field of Afghanistan. It ...
Nov. 23, 2004
Cable
Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell, Brent E. Blaschke , David W. Bowker
Nov. 16, 2001 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3659
Letter refers to an attached memo regarding the historical treatment of detainees. [Letter is not included].
Nov. 23, 2004
Letter
Evan T. Bloom
William J. Haynes, II, Todd F. Buchwald, David W. Bowker, Joshua L. Dorosin, Harry R. Melone, Eric J. Pelofsky, Mary Comfort, Andre M. Surena, David Kay, Evan T. Bloom, Edward R. Cummings