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 (258)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Apr. 22, 2005 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 4588

This document was faxed from the CIA to Steven Bradbury (OLC). It describes the CIA's technique of "horizontal sleep deprivation," wherein a detainee is placed on a large blanket on the floor and chained such that he cannot sleep. ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Non-legal Memo, Letter
Steven G. Bradbury
Steven G. Bradbury
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding, Water dousing, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation
Mar. 31, 2005 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 4801
Major General Geoffrey D. Miller was the Commanding General for the Joint Task Force in Guantanamo Bay (GTMO) from November 4, 2002 to March 26, 2004. He was interviewed regarding his knowledge of detainee abuse at GTMO. He mentioned that his ...
Jan. 02, 2007
Interview (Statement, Summaries/Notes)
Randall Mark Schmidt
Randall Mark Schmidt, Geoffrey D. Miller, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Michael E. Dunlavey , James T. Hill
Stress positions, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Religious, Other
Mar. 23, 2005 | DOA | SOUTHCOM | ACLU-RDI 2347
Summarized witness statement of a Second Lieutenant stationed at Guantanamo between February and November 2003. When asked about various allegations of abuse, the 2LT states that they had no personal knowledge of abuse or the specific allegations ...
June 15, 2006
Interview (Summaries/Notes)
Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Manipulation of interrogator’s identity
Mar. 17, 2005 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 4790
Major General Michael Dunlavey was interviewed regarding his knowledge of detainee abuse at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (GTMO). MG Dunlavey arrived to GTMO on or about December 13, 2002 as the Commander of the Joint Task Force-170. In regards to ...
Jan. 02, 2007
Interview (Statement)
Michael E. Dunlavey , Randall Mark Schmidt, Paul Wolfowitz, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Michael R. Lehnert, Rick Baccus, Geoffrey D. Miller, Glenn A. Crowther, Albert T. Church
Physical assault, General, Threat, Stress positions, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Manipulation of interrogator’s identity
Mar. 07, 2005 | DOA | SOUTHCOM | ACLU-RDI 2349
Summarized witness statement of a Major stationed at Guantanamo from February 2003 to January 2004 who supervised interrogations. The Major admits being aware of a number of incidents of detainee abuse, including a SFC's impersonation of a State ...
June 15, 2006
Interview (Summaries/Notes)
John T. Furlow
John T. Furlow
Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Manipulation of interrogator’s identity
Feb. 23, 2005 | DOA | SOUTHCOM | ACLU-RDI 2355
Summarized witness statement of an Ensign stationed at Guantanamo from July 2002 to October 2002. She was a team leader for interrogators. Asked about various allegations of detainee abuse, she indicated awareness of the use of loud music; ...
June 15, 2006
Interview (Summaries/Notes)
John T. Furlow
John T. Furlow
Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature
Feb. 09, 2005 | DOA | SOUTHCOM | ACLU-RDI 2359
Summarized witness statement of a Sargent who was stationed at Guantanamo from August 2002 to February 2003 as an interrogator, however the Sargent stated that her “time was spent reviewing Memorandums for Record and draft interrogation plans ...
June 15, 2006
Interview (Summaries/Notes)
John T. Furlow
John T. Furlow
Sleep deprivation, Other Humiliation, Sexual
Feb. 08, 2005 | DOA | SOUTHCOM | ACLU-RDI 2346
This summarized statement of a female Sergeant, who served as an interrogator at Guantanamo between August 2002 and February 2003 on the Saudi Arabian Team. She states that she was aware that loud music; yelling; temp manipulation (using air ...
June 15, 2006
Interview (Statement, Summaries/Notes)
Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Other Humiliation, Sexual
Jan. 10, 2005 | DOA | SOUTHCOM | ACLU-RDI 2345
In a summarized witness statement, the Joint Interrogation Group (JIG) Chief at Guantanamo Bay discusses a variety of incidents of abuse alleged to have taken place under his command. With respect to interrogators' impersonation of FBI agents, he ...
June 15, 2006
Interview (Summaries/Notes)
John T. Furlow
John T. Furlow, Geoffrey D. Miller
Stress positions, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Manipulation of interrogator’s identity
Jan. 08, 2005 | ACLU-RDI 3548

A series of blog posts by a former OLC lawyer, Marty Lederman, discussing the difference between the DOJ's memo on torture from August 2002 and the memo on torture from December 30, 2004 (ACLU-RDI 3547).  The posts conclude that the Bush ...

June 01, 2005
Other
John C. Yoo, Daniel B. Levin, Alberto R. Gonzales, Richard J. Durbin
Waterboarding, Mock Burial, Rendition, Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Light or sound, Hooding/Goggling, Religious, Use of water, Threat, Environmental manipulation, Other Humiliation