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 (94)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Dec. 04, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 6236
An email regarding a "DHS Mou." The email also mentions a memo "covering detainees we don't want them to arrest."
Oct. 30, 2009
Email
Julie F. Thomas
Julie F. Thomas
Dec. 20, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 6460
This document is mostly redacted. The most substantive portion states that [Redacted] (OGC) (FBI) sent an unredacted copy of an email from 1/21/04 5:15 p.m. entitled "Subject: FWD: re: Impersonating FBI."
Oct. 30, 2009
Email
Valerie E. Caproni
Julie F. Thomas
Valerie E. Caproni, Julie Thomas
Dec. 01, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 6467
This document is an email describing the allegations of a detainee (whose name is redacted). The detainee claims to have been abused by two FBI agents in Afghanistan who later came back to interrogate him in GTMO. Detainee claimed that the FBI ...
Oct. 30, 2009
Email
Valerie E. Caproni
[Redacted] (OGC) (FBI); Charlene B. Thorton (INSD) (FBI); Frankie Battle (CTD) (FBI); Julie F. Thomas (OGC) (FBI); [Redacted] (CTD) (FBI); T.J. Harrington (CTD) (FBI); [Redacted] (CTD) (FBI); M. [Redacted] (CTD) (FBI); [Redacted] (CTD) (FBI)
Valerie E. Caproni, Charlene B. Thornton
Threat
Dec. 01, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 6468
This document is an email describing the allegations of a detainee (whose name is redacted). The detainee claims to have been abused by two FBI agents in Afghanistan who later came back to interrogate him in GTMO. Detainee claimed that the FBI ...
Oct. 30, 2009
Email
Valarie E. Caproni
Redacted; Charlene Thornton
Valerie E. Caproni, Charlene B. Thornton, Julie F. Thomas, Frankie Battle, Thomas J. Harrington
Threat
Dec. 30, 2004 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 4585

This document was originally released on June 1, 2005 (ACLU-RDI 3547).  This OLC memo supercedes the August 2002 memo interpreting the anti-torture statute. The memo disagrees with the previous memo's conclusions that torture is ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Legal Memo
Daniel B. Levin
James B. Comey
Daniel B. Levin, James B. Comey, George W. Bush
Dec. 30, 2004 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 4586

A background paper on the CIA's combined use of interrogation techniques, addressed to Daniel Levin, Acting Assistant Attorney General. The document states that "Effective interrogation is based on the concept of using both physical and ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Non-legal Memo, Letter
Daniel B. Levin
Daniel B. Levin
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, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity
Dec. 01, 2004 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 4587

A fax (sent January 15, 2005) from the CIA to the OLC of the December 2004 OMS Guidelines on Medical and Psychological Support to Detainee Rendition, Interrogation, and Detention. The document is heavily redacted but describes the enhanced ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Non-legal Memo, Medical (Psychological)
Daniel B. Levin
Daniel B. Levin
EIT, SERE, 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, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Forced grooming
Dec. 22, 2004 | DOJ-OIG | ACLU-RDI 6373
This document is an email alerting recipients that, after discussions with FBI Director Mueller, FBI is sending DoD 8 interviews with agents who reported seeing actions that might constitute detainee mistreatment.
July 20, 2009
Email
Valerie E. Caproni
Thomas J. Harrington
Valerie E. Caproni, Thomas J. Harrington
Dec. 08, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 2698
Statement of a soldier who is of a combat medic assigned to 2/3/ FA. The soldier states that he did not see "detainees suffering from injuries due to being physically abused. I vaguely remember a family of two sisters and some brothers detained ...
Dec. 29, 2004 | DOA | SOUTHCOM | ACLU-RDI 2324
Memorandum appointing Brigadier General John T. Furlow as the investigating officer for an AR 15-6 investigation into allegations made by the FBI regarding detainee abuse at Guantanamo. Allegations include the use of dogs, impersonation of FBI ...
June 15, 2006
Non-legal Memo
Bantz J. Craddock
John T. Furlow
Bantz J. Craddock, John T. Furlow
Stress positions, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Manipulation of interrogator’s identity