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 (180)

This heavily redacted cable provides authorization and authority for Bruce Jessen and James Mitchell to use the full range of level 1 EITs and the level 2 water board. All envelope information is redacted.
Dec. 20, 2016
Non-legal Memo, Cable
Bruce Jessen, James Mitchell
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
This document is a fax from John Rizzo to Steven Bradbury containing Mr. Rizzo's draft Q&A responses for an upcoming hearing on detention and interrogation.
This Letter Contract signifies the Government's intention to "negotiate and definitize" a formal contract with Mitchell, Jessen and Associates (MJA). The Letter Contract provides that MJA may proceed with the tasks identified in the "Statement of ...
Nov. 23, 2016
Letter
Mitchell | Jessen | & Associates
This letter provides Bruce Jessen, of Mitchell, Jessen and Associates LLC confirmation of Verbal Authorization to Proceed Not to Exceed for DCI's Counterterrorist Center (CTC) Elicitation and Training for a CTC Project (name of Project redacted ...
Nov. 23, 2016
Other
Contracting Officer
Bruce Jessen
Bruce Jessen
Report from the Office of Inspector General on Counterterrorism Detention and Interrogation Activities from September 2001-October 2003, specifically focusing on the use of Enhanced Interrogation Techniques (EITs). In September 2016, a version ...
This report details the investigation into the death of Gul Rahman. This re-released report includes a description of psychologist Bruce Jessen and his role in the interrogation of Gul Rahman. A version of this document was re-released in ...
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 ...
This letter is the CIA's response to questions raised by Daniel Levin, OLC, regarding the use of waterboarding. The letter describes the CIA's limits in administering the technique. [OLC Vaughn Index #72]
Aug. 31, 2016
Non-legal Memo, Letter
Daniel B. Levin
Daniel B. Levin
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
This letter from Scott Muller to John Bellinger concerns further discussions that clarified the approval of certain interrogation techniques. He writes, "the authorized techniques are those previously approved for use with Abu Zubaydah (with the ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo, Letter
Scott W. Muller
John B. Bellinger | James B. Comey
James B. Comey, John B. Bellinger, III, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Scott W. Muller
Abu Zubaydah
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
This letter from John Helgerson, Inspector General of the CIA, to Jack Goldsmith of the OLC addresses the DOJ's proposed modifications to the IG report. Helgerson writes, "we have carefully reviewed the comments of the [DOJ] regarding the Special ...