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 (48)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
May 26, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3644
DOS Cable/letter from Colin L. Powell to ICRC President requesting access to the ICRC's confidential reports on visits to detention facilities in Iraq, Guantanamo and Afghanistan. The letter states that the reports will be disseminated, in strict ...
Nov. 23, 2004
Cable
Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell, Simone Whittemore, William Howard Taft, IV, Ronald W. Miller, JoAnn J. Dolan, Frank E. Schmelzer
May 06, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3642
DOS Press Release asking if the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) has access to detainees in Iraq, including detainees at Abu Ghraib, the answer is yes. The ICRC has also expressed its concerns with detainee abuse and made ...
Nov. 23, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Richard A. Boucher, Frank E. Schmelzer , P. Michael McKinley, Jonathan S. Carpenter
July 25, 2003 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3637
Letter from an activist denouncing the President's November 13, 2001 Military Order: Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War on Terrorism. The letter also expresses the author's regret that six detainees, including, ...
Nov. 23, 2004
Letter
Colin L. Powell, Frank E. Schmelzer
Feroz Ali Abassi, Moazzam Begg, David Hicks
Jan. 18, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3633
DOS Memo summarizes various events that have occurred around the world, including news that the International Committee of the Red Cross' has commenced to meet with detainees at Guantanamo. [Contents redacted].
Nov. 23, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Frank E. Schmelzer
Jan. 18, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3630
Memo from the Executive Secretariat summarizing different news and events taking place throughout the Middle East, January 17, 2002.
Nov. 23, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Frank E. Schmelzer
Feb. 08, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3626
This document appears to be a cover sheet to a document entitled the Harty-Biegun Memo. [Memo/document is not included].
Nov. 23, 2004
Letter
Frank E. Schmelzer , Saadia Sarkis, Maura A. Harty, Stephen E. Biegun
Feb. 08, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3627
This appears to be a cover sheet from the Office of the Secretary of State, a cover sheet for an attached Action Memo. [Action Memo is not included].
Nov. 23, 2004
Letter
Rena Bitter, Lori McLean, Tom Kelsey, Frank E. Schmelzer , Saadia Sarkis, Colin L. Powell
DOS | ACLU-RDI 3628
Note cover sheet with handwritten notation. No relevant text.
Nov. 23, 2004
Notes
Colin L. Powell
William Howard Taft, IV
William Howard Taft, IV, Frank E. Schmelzer , Colin L. Powell
Feb. 25, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3621
State Department memo discussing a recent petition filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) against the U.S.. The CCR's petition alleges that the U.S. government's treatment ...
Nov. 23, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Otto J. Reich | Roger F. Noriega
Colin L. Powell
Colin L. Powell, Otto J. Reich, Roger F. Noriega, Frank E. Schmelzer
May 11, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3622
DOS Note cover sheet with handwritten notation sent from Jack Straw to Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Condoleeza Rice and George Tenet are CC'd. No other relevant text.
Nov. 23, 2004
Letter
Donald H. Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Jack Straw, Condoleeza Rice, George J. Tenet, Frank E. Schmelzer