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 (927)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Dec. 18, 2005 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 5003
Letter from Margaret P. Grafeld, DOS to Amrit Singh, ACLU re: the ACLU's FOIA Request. Letter states that the document production requested is being complied with in some parts and denied or withheld in part.
Dec. 23, 2004
Letter, Judicial
Margaret P. Grafeld
Margaret P. Grafeld
Feb. 15, 2006 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 5000

A State Department memo addressing whether Article 16 of the Convention Against Torture applies to the CIA's interrogations in foreign countries. The State Department determined that the prohibitions against torture do apply, despite its ...

Apr. 03, 2012
Legal Memo
Phillip Zelikow
Phillip Zelikow
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding, Water dousing, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Walling, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Nudity
May 05, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4987
DOS Press Release asking if the ICRC has access to detainees in Iraq, including detainees at Abu Ghraib. The answer is yes.
Nov. 23, 2004
Other
Jonathan S. Carpenter, P. Michael McKinley, Frank E. Schmelzer
Mar. 22, 2003 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4989
State Department Cable Subject: Transfer of Detainees to Guantanamo, March 21, 2003. No further information or content
Dec. 30, 2004
Cable
Richard A. Boucher
Mar. 15, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4758

State Department cable originating from the embassy in Baghdad describing CPA Administrator Paul Bremer's meeting with Samarra community leaders. Their meeting included discussions of concerns over security and treatment of detainees in Iraq.

May 27, 2008
Cable
L. Paul Bremer
Jan. 18, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4756
Statement by Philip T. Reeker, Deputy Spokesman for the State Department, regarding the transfer of six terror suspects from Bosnia and Herzegovina to U.S.. The statement states "The United States commends and strongly supports the resolute ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Other
Philip T. Reeker
Mar. 24, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4755
DOS Cable regarding a letter from Special Rapporteur on Torture, Theo van Boven, to Ambassador Bremen regarding the detention of four individuals in Basra, Iraq. The letter reports that the detainees are being held incommunicado by the UK ...
Nov. 23, 2004
Cable
Colin L. Powell
L. Paul Bremer, Colin L. Powell, Thomas A. Johnson
Nov. 10, 2001 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4754
DOS cover letter for six page document(s) discussing Afghanistan detention of captured persons.
Nov. 23, 2004
Letter
Maura Harty
Maura A. Harty, Frank E. Schmelzer
Feb. 17, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4751
This State Department Cable is entitled "Subject: February 9 Transfer of Detainees to Guantanamo". There is no other discernible information or context.
Feb. 11, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4752
This State Department Cable is entitled "Subject: February 11 Transfer of Detainees to Guantanamo". There is no other discernible information or context.