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 (72)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
June 07, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4070

Emails discuss and include a Wall Street Journal article entitled "Pentagon Report Set Framework for Use of Torture: Security or Legal Factors Could Trump Restrictions, Memo to Rumsfeld Argued." The article discusses a classified ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Email
Robert K. Harris
Edward R. Cummings | Samuel M. Witten | Tom Malionek | Jonathan B. Schwartz
Donald H. Rumsfeld, George W. Bush, James T. Hill, Condoleeza Rice, Patrick Leahy, William J. Haynes, II, Thomas Malionek, William J. Gehron, Robert K. Harris, Edward R. Cummings, Samuel M. Witten, Michael G. Kozak, James H. Thessin, Jonathan B. Schwartz, William Howard Taft, IV, Robert E. Dalton, Katherine M. Gorove, Lois L. Allder, Daphne W. Cook, Darlyce M. Eley
Threat, Family/others, Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Religious
May 07, 2003 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4094
Email includes a cable with the following subject: International Committee of the Red Cross delivers note verbale on 'rights and duties' of the U.S. as occupying power. Email is completely redacted.
Dec. 30, 2004
Email
Theresa K. Mitchell | JoAnn J. Dolan
David Pierce, JoAnn J. Dolan, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Colin L. Powell, Condoleeza Rice, Edward R. Cummings, Michael T. Peay, William Howard Taft, IV, Pierre-Richard Prosper
Mar. 11, 2003 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4120
Emails between State Department officials concerning a meeting between William Howard Taft, IV and Lorne Craner. The email is mostly redacted.
Dec. 30, 2004
Email
Todd F. Buchwald
Joshua L. Dorosin
William Howard Taft, IV, Todd F. Buchwald, Joshua L. Dorosin, Samuel M. Witten, Andre M. Surena, Linda Jacobson, Marianne J. Hata , Katherine M. Gorove, Nina E Schou, JoAnn J. Dolan
Aug. 04, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4126
Email from David Bowker to William H. Taft IV, James H. Thessin, Edwards R. Cummings, Joshua L. Dorosin and Todd F. Buchwald re: Draft list of priorities on International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) Report. No attachment.
Dec. 30, 2004
Email
David W. Bowker
William Howard Taft, IV | James H. Thessin | Edward R. Cummings | Joshua L. Dorosin | Todd F. Buchwald
David W. Bowker, William Howard Taft, IV, James H. Thessin, Edward R. Cummings, Joshua L. Dorosin, Todd F. Buchwald
Feb. 27, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4132
This is a State department Talking points and press guidance memo concerning the legal basis for the U.S. holding detainees at Guantanamo. The talking points highlight that the detainees are "enemy Combatants" and not Prisoners of War (POWs) and ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Evan T. Bloom, William Howard Taft, IV, James H. Thessin, Jonathan B. Schwartz, Edward R. Cummings, David W. Bowker, Mark F. Wong, John B. Bellinger, III, Eliana Davidson, Daniel P. Collins
July 16, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4158
Emails discuss a visit by an unknown individual and a Baltimore Sun article entitled "Pentagon Says It's Hiding No One From Red Cross." The more recent email is redacted. The news article reports that the Pentagon denies hiding imprisoned ...
Dec. 30, 2004
Email
JoAnn J. Dolan
William Howard Taft, IV | James H. Thessin | Edward R. Cummings | Steven A. Solomon | Joshua L. Dorosin | Robert E. Dalton | Lois Allder | Michael T. Peay | Daphne Cook | Rebecca M. Ingber | Avril D. Haines
JoAnn J. Dolan, William Howard Taft, IV, James H. Thessin, Steven A. Solomon, Edward R. Cummings, Joshua L. Dorosin, L.R. Lohman, Thomas Malionek, Daphne W. Cook, Lois L. Allder, John I. Blanck, Jr., Sharon E. Ahmad, Michael J. Dennis, Robert E. Dalton, Michael T. Peay, Avril Haines, Rebecca M. Ingber, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Lawrence Di Rita
Sept. 13, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4160
Emails mention a discussion that took place in New York concerning the status of a detainee. [Redactions in document make it difficult to read].
Dec. 30, 2004
Email
JoAnn J. Dolan
Pierre-Richard Prosper | Ronald W. Miller | William Howard Taft, IV | Brian H. Leventhal | Edward R. Cummings | Joshua L. Dorosin | Andre M. Surena | Katherine M. Gorove | Todd F. Buchwald
Monica J. Tillery, JoAnn J. Dolan, Sharon E. Ahmad, Pierre-Richard Prosper, Ronald W. Miller, William Howard Taft, IV, Brian H. Leventhal, Edward R. Cummings, Joshua L. Dorosin, Andre M. Surena, Katherine M. Gorove, Todd F. Buchwald, Henry Bisharat
May 07, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4176
Emails discuss talking points for use by the U.S. expert on the Committee Against Torture, discussing what the U.S. will say in response to prisoner abuses in Iraq. Talking points included.
Dec. 30, 2004
Email
Robert K. Harris
William Howard Taft, IV | James H. Thessin | Samuel M. Witten
Robert K. Harris, William Howard Taft, IV, James H. Thessin, Samuel M. Witten, Katherine M. Gorove, Jeffrey DeLaurentis, Elizabeth H. Richard, JoAnn J. Dolan, Edward R. Cummings, Aaron W. Jost, Mark P. Lagon, Elizabeth L. Riley, Anne R. Sorensen, Donald H. Rumsfeld, George W. Bush, Charles A. Allen, Patrick Rowan
Oct. 21, 2003 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4179
Email provides a brief report of the October 20, 2003 Inter-American Commission on Human Rights hearing on detainees at Guantanamo.
Dec. 30, 2004
Email
Robert K. Harris
William Howard Taft, IV | Samuel M. Witten | James H. Thessin | Edward R. Cummings | JoAnn J. Dolan | Joshua L. Dorosin | Thomas A. Johnson | Peter M. McKiinley | Elizabeth H. Richard | Margaret J. Pollack | Carrie Santos | Lorne W. Craner
Harry R. Melone, Robert K. Harris, William Howard Taft, IV, Samuel M. Witten, James H. Thessin, Edward R. Cummings, JoAnn J. Dolan, Joshua L. Dorosin, Thomas A. Johnson, Lorne Craner, Michael G. Kozak, Carol T. Santos, Margaret J. Pollack, Lynn M. Sicade, Christopher N. Camponovo, Harry R. Melone
Mar. 27, 2003 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4191
Memo, among other things, describes the U.S. government's application of the Geneva Convention with respect to the War on Terrorism and differentiates the U.S. government's treatment of detainees from the Iraq's treatment of American detainees.
Dec. 30, 2004
Non-legal Memo
JoAnn J. Dolan | Ronald W. Miller
JoAnn J. Dolan, Ronald W. Miller, William Howard Taft, IV, James H. Thessin, Edward R. Cummings, Gregory W. Sullivan, Rhonda H. Shore, Charles L. Daris