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 (124)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Aug. 06, 2004 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 6579
This letter from Levin to Rizzo addresses the use of waterboarding on a specific detainee. It concludes that "although it is a close and difficult question, the use of the waterboard technique in the contemplated interrogation of [redacted] ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo, Letter
Daniel B. Levin
John A. Rizzo
Daniel B. Levin, John A. Rizzo, Jay Bybee
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
Aug. 05, 2004 | CIA-OGC | ACLU-RDI 4578

This letter is the CIA's response to questions raised by Daniel Levin, OLC, regarding the use of waterboarding.  The letter describes the CIA's limits in administering the technique. [OLC Vaughn Index #72]

Aug. 24, 2009
Non-legal Memo, Letter
Daniel B. Levin
Daniel B. Levin
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
Aug. 05, 2004 | CIA-OGC | ACLU-RDI 6612
This letter is the CIA's response to questions raised by Daniel Levin, OLC, regarding the use of waterboarding. The letter describes the CIA's limits in administering the technique. [OLC Vaughn Index #72]
Aug. 31, 2016
Non-legal Memo, Letter
Daniel B. Levin
Daniel B. Levin
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
Aug. 04, 2004 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 4501

(A CIA affidavit states that this was a 1-page memo dated Aug. 4, 2004 from CIA to OLC and that it contained "communications from the CIA to OLC on a matter in which the CIA requested legal advice from OLC.")  The document ...

July 24, 2008
Legal Memo
Richard J. Durbin
EIT, Waterboarding, Use of water
July 22, 2004 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 4577

This letter from Acting Assistant Attorney General Levin to Muller regards whether a certain detainee may be subjected to waterboarding. Levin asks the CIA to provide specific details of the technique in practice, including "whether the ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Legal Memo, Letter
Daniel B. Levin
Scott W. Muller
Daniel B. Levin, Scott W. Muller, Jay S. Bybee, John A. Rizzo, John L. Helgerson
Abu Zubaydah
EIT, SERE, Use of water, Waterboarding
July 22, 2004 | DOJ | ACLU-RDI 4576
In a letter to Acting CIA Director McLaughlin, Attorney General Ashcroft confirms his advice that the use of certain interrogation techniques (other than waterboarding) in the interrogation of a particular detainee outside territory subject to ...
Aug. 24, 2009
Letter
John D. Ashcroft
John E. McLaughlin
John D. Ashcroft, John McLaughlin, John A. Rizzo, Jay S. Bybee
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
July 02, 2004 | CIA-OGC | ACLU-RDI 4573

This letter from Scott Muller to John Bellinger concerns further discussions that clarified the approval of certain interrogation techniques. He writes, "the authorized techniques are those previously approved for use with Abu Zubaydah ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Letter
Scott W. Muller
John Bellinger | James B. Comey
Scott W. Muller, John B. Bellinger, III, James B. Comey, Donald H. Rumsfeld
Abu Zubaydah
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
July 02, 2004 | CIA-OGC | ACLU-RDI 6611
This letter from Scott Muller to John Bellinger concerns further discussions that clarified the approval of certain interrogation techniques. He writes, "the authorized techniques are those previously approved for use with Abu Zubaydah (with the ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo, Letter
Scott W. Muller
John B. Bellinger | James B. Comey
James B. Comey, John B. Bellinger, III, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Scott W. Muller
Abu Zubaydah
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
June 18, 2004 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 4601

An OLC memo from Jack Goldsmith to John Helgerson, the CIA's Inspector General, expressing disagreement with the Special Review's representation of OLC opinions on two points -- whether John Ashcroft (Attorney General) authorized ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Legal Memo, Letter
Jack L. Goldsmith
John L. Helgerson
Jack L. Goldsmith, John L. Helgerson, John D. Ashcroft, John A. Rizzo, George J. Tenet
Abu Zubaydah
EIT, Waterboarding, Use of water
June 18, 2004 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 6623
An OLC memo from Jack Goldsmith to John Helgerson, the CIA's Inspector General, expressing disagreement with the Special Review's representation of OLC opinions on two points -- whether John Ashcroft (Attorney General) authorized "expanded use" ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
Jack L. Goldsmith
John L. Helgerson
Jack L. Goldsmith, John L. Helgerson, John A. Rizzo
Abu Zubaydah
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding