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 (39)

Lengthy, but almost entirely redacted, document that apparently discusses the CIA’s detention and interrogation program for “high value targets.” The document provides some detail regarding the “standard” and ...

This CIA documents is a draft psychological assessment of Abu Zubaydah, discussing his background, personality, emotional and mental skills, strengths, motivations, and future worldview, among other things. The document is very similar to file ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Non-legal Memo, Medical (Psychological)
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

This is a heavily redacted version of a CIA memo later released in less-redacted form.  The less-redacted version is available at ACLU-RDI 4562.  This version of the document shows that CIA interrogators were permitted to use both ...

July 24, 2008
Non-legal Memo
George Tenet
George J. Tenet
EIT

A heavily redacted summary of an interview by the CIA's Office of the Inspector General, of Scott W. Muller, the CIA's general counsel. The interview summary discusses viewing videotapes, the approval of waterboarding during the interrogation ...

May 27, 2008
Interview (Summaries/Notes)
Scott W. Muller
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
Letter to Human Rights Watch responding to HRW's November 15, 2003 letter (at CIA000008-CIA000009) requesting a visit to CIA detention facilities in Afghanistan. Letter does not respond to request to visit. States that "I can assure you ... that ...
May 18, 2004
Letter
Scott W. Muller
Brad Adams
Scott W. Muller
Press release from the White House affirming the Bush administration's belief in the Geneva Convention, but noting that Taliban detainees are not entitled to POW status and that members of al-Qaeda are not covered by the Convention.
Other
George W. Bush, Ari Fleischer
Chain of CIA emails organizing a meeting to be held on October 20, 2003 at 11:00 a.m.
This report, issued by John Helgerson, examines whether CIA interrogators used unauthorized interrogation techniques on high value detainees, including Abd al-Rahman Al-Nashiri.
Non-legal Memo, Oversight Report, Investigative File
John Helgerson
John Helgerson, James Pavitt
Abd Al-Rahim Al-Nashiri
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Threat, Sleep deprivation