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 (6709)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Jan. 15, 2003 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 3543
Department of Defense memo rescinding approval of the use of all Category II techniques and one Category III technique during investigations that were previously approved on December 2, 2002. Attaches memo from Jim Haynes, General Counsel of the ...
June 01, 2005
Non-legal Memo
Donald H. Rumsfeld
James T. Hill
Donald H. Rumsfeld, William J. Haynes, II, James T. Hill
Apr. 16, 2003 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 3544

A memo from Secretary Rumsfeld approving a set of interrogation techniques, including some that it admits may be "inconsistent with" provisions of the Geneva Conventions.  The techniques include "Pride and Ego Down," ...

June 01, 2005
Non-legal Memo
Donald H. Rumsfeld
James T. Hill
Donald H. Rumsfeld, James T. Hill, Richard B. Myers
Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation
June 22, 2004 | ACLU-RDI 3545

This manual describes in detail interrogation techniques such as rapport-building, fear-up and fear-down, pride and ego, and file and dossier.

June 01, 2005
Non-legal Memo
William J. Haynes, II
June 01, 2004 | ACLU-RDI 3546
This documenis an academic paper presented by Philip B. Heyman of Harvard University.
June 01, 2005
Other
Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Other Humiliation, Sexual
Dec. 30, 2004 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 3547
Department of Justice Office of Legal Council on Standards of Conduct for Interrogation under 18 U.S.C. §§ 2340-2340A. This memo superceding the August 2002 memo interpreting the anti-torture statute. The memo disagrees with the previous memo's ...
June 01, 2005
Legal Memo
Daniel B. Levin
James B. Comey
Daniel B. Levin, James B. Comey, George W. Bush
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
Jan. 06, 2005 | Legislative | ACLU-RDI 3549

Questions for Alberto Gonzalez, during his confirmation hearing, including many related to the treatment of detainees

June 01, 2005
Interview (Transcript)
Patrick Leahy
Alberto Gonzalez
Alberto R. Gonzales, John D. Ashcroft, Patrick Leahy, George W. Bush, Colin L. Powell, Donald H. Rumsfeld, George J. Tenet
June 26, 2003 | ACLU-RDI 3550

A letter praising the Bush administration for its work addressing the problem of torture and welcoming the Bush administration's statement that the United States will neither torture terrorist suspects nor use cruel and unusual treatment to ...

June 01, 2005
Letter
George W. Bush, William J. Haynes, II, Patrick Leahy
Jan. 15, 2003 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 4984

A memo directing DOD General Counsel Jim Haynes to establish a working group "to assess the legal, policy, and operational issues relating to the interrogations of detainees."  That working group would later recommend ...

June 01, 2005
Non-legal Memo
Donald H. Rumsfeld
William J. Haynes, II
Donald H. Rumsfeld, William J. Haynes, II
June 11, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 1222
Power Point presentation explaining the responsibilities of U.S. armed forces and detainees' rights under the laws of war. Includes rules for record keeping, lessons for drafting sworn statements, and obligations to treat detainees with dignity ...