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 (45)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Sept. 05, 2003 | CIA-OIG | ACLU-RDI 4523

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
Aug. 12, 2002 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 4524

A heavily redacted cable from the field to CIA headquarters relating to the status of Abu Zubaydah.  The unredated portions refer to the waterboarding of Abu Zubaydah.

May 27, 2008
Non-legal Memo, Cable
Abu Zubaydah
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
May 07, 2004 | CIA-OIG | ACLU-RDI 4525

A heavily redacted version of a report authored by the CIA's Office of the Inspector General.  The report was later released in less-redacted form.  It discusses the CIA's use of the "enhanced interrogation techniques," ...

May 27, 2008
Oversight Report
John L. Helgerson
John C. Yoo, George J. Tenet, George W. Bush, John L. Helgerson, John A. Rizzo, John McLaughlin
Abu Zubaydah, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
Oct. 29, 2003 | CIA-OIG | ACLU-RDI 6528
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
Aug. 27, 2004 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 6534
This heavily redacted memo contains notes from a meeting on specific interrogation techniques, including the waterboard, sleep deprivation, and water dousing, between DOJ attorneys, including Dan Levin and Steven Bradbury, and CIA personnel. ...
Non-legal Memo
Daniel B. Levin, Steven Bradbury
Waterboarding, Water dousing, Sleep deprivation, Use of water