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 (75)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
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
OLC | ACLU-RDI 4591

This page of handwritten notes of an OLC attorney lists documents (primarily OLC memos) related to the CIA interrogation program. [OLC Vaughn Index #129]

Aug. 24, 2009
Notes
Alberto R. Gonzales, John C. Yoo, Jay S. Bybee, John A. Rizzo, William J. Haynes, II
Abu Zubaydah
EIT
Sept. 01, 2004 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 4584

An OLC memo from Daniel Levin (Acting Assistant Attorney General) to John Ashcroft (Attorney General) and James Comey (Deputy Attorney General), updating them on the status of interrogation advice. The letter contains sections for general ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Legal Memo
Daniel B. Levin
John D. Ashcroft | James B. Comey
Daniel B. Levin, John D. Ashcroft, James B. Comey, Jay S. Bybee, Alberto R. Gonzales, John A. Rizzo, John McLaughlin, William J. Haynes, II, John C. Yoo, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Jack L. Goldsmith, Scott W. Muller
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation
Aug. 26, 2004 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 4582

An OLC memo to the CIA addressing whether the use of four enhanced techniques, "dietary manipulation, nudity, water dousing, and abdominal slaps," in the interrogation of [redacted] would violate the law. The letter concludes that ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Legal Memo, Letter
Daniel B. Levin
John A. Rizzo
Daniel B. Levin, John A. Rizzo
EIT, Use of water, Water dousing, Physical assault, Stomach/abdominal slap, Dietary manipulation, Nudity
Sept. 06, 2004 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 4583

An OLC memo to the CIA addressing whether the use of "twelve particular interrogation techniques (attention grasp, walling, facial hold, facial slap (insult slap), cramped confinement, wall standing, stress positions, sleep depravation, ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Legal Memo, Letter
Daniel B. Levin
John A. Rizzo
Daniel B. Levin, John A. Rizzo
EIT, Use of water, Water dousing, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Nudity
Aug. 06, 2004 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 4580

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 ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Legal Memo, Letter
Daniel B. Levin
John A. Rizzo
John A. Rizzo, Daniel B. Levin, Jay S. Bybee
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
Sept. 20, 2004 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 4581

An OLC memo to the CIA addressing whether the use of "twelve particular interrogation techniques (attention grasp, walling, facial hold, facial slap (insult slap), cramped confinement, wall standing, stress positions, sleep depravation, ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Legal Memo, Letter
Daniel B. Levin
John A. Rizzo
Daniel B. Levin, John A. Rizzo
EIT, Use of water, Water dousing, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Nudity
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
June 22, 2004 | CIA-OGC | ACLU-RDI 4575

This letter from Rizzo, Acting General Counsel, to Philbin forwards a copy of John Yoo's memo of July 13, 2002 addressing "what is necessary to establish the crime of torture." [OLC Vaughn Index #49]

Aug. 24, 2009
Legal Memo, Letter
John A. Rizzo
Patrick Philbin
John A. Rizzo, Patrick Philbin, John C. Yoo, Jennifer Koester
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