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 (180)

This document is a heavily redacted message concerning a White House meeting on enhanced techniques, and mentions that the Justice Department memorandum provides a legal "safe harbor" where conduct is lawful and no prosecutions will be mounted.
June 10, 2016
Non-legal Memo
Scott W. Muller
EIT
This heavily redacted memorandum contains comments from Medical Services on the Counterterrorism Detention and Investigation Program. The memorandum mentions OMS concerns about a conflict of interest in which the only individuals approved to ...
June 10, 2016
Non-legal Memo
John L. Helgerson
This Operational Review of the CIA Detainee Program finds that the program is a success and provides "unique and invaluable intelligence." The review also finds that the procedures for handling detainees are "adequate and clear"and that the ...
June 10, 2016
Non-legal Memo
Henry A. Crumpton
Deputy Director for Operations
Jose A. Rodriguez, Jr.
This memorandum is a heavily redacted message to Acting Assistant Attorney General Dan Levin, stating that the CIA is preparing preliminary biographies "in preparation for a future request for a legal opinion" on interrogations in CIA control.
June 10, 2016
Cable, Letter
Dan Levin
Daniel B. Levin
This document is the CIA's response to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence's Study of the Central Intelligence Agency's Detention and Interrogation Program. "The comments presented in this paper on The Senate Select Committee on ...

Emails that appear to be primarily between staff of the CIA's Office of the Inspector General, relating to the OIG's investigation of the CIA's interrogation program. The emails primarily concern the arrangment of interviews relevant to the ...

Aug. 01, 2013
Email
John L. Helgerson
Abed Hamed Mowhoush

CIA email describing an unidentified official's visit to the Office of the Inspector General to review a draft Report of Investigation. 

CIA presentation entitled "Human Rights: Background & Current Practices." The presentation gives a brief historical overview of human rights and reviews important international organizations that protect human rights.
CIA printout of 10 U.S.C 892, Art. 92, describing punitive military justice for armed forces personnel accused of failing to obey orders or regulations.
Summary of CIA activities at the Abu Ghraib prison. A handwritten note marks the summary as "D/N Talking Points." Some of the bulleted paragraphs are redacted.
Mar. 15, 2013
Non-legal Memo
Manadel Al-Jamadi, Abed Hamed Mowhoush