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 (62)

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 19, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 2829

Cable summarizes the results of 14 interviews of FBI personnel who participated in detainee interviews at Abu Ghraib between October and December 2003. Attached to the cable is a classified chart of FBI personnel who conducted interviews at ...

Dec. 15, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Thomas J. Harrington | Valerie E. Caproni
Thomas J. Harrington, Valerie E. Caproni, Chris Swecker, J. Stephen Tidwell, Janice K. Fedarcyk, Brenton L. Mosher, Warren T. Bamford, Edward J. Barrett
Physical assault, General, Threat, Family/others, Use of electricity, Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity
May 25, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 2983
This FBI memo concerns the activities of FBI personnel at Abu Ghraib prison from October 2003 to December 2003. The FBI conducted 15 interviews of military personnel, each being present at Abu Ghraib prison at some point during October 2003 & ...
Dec. 15, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, General, Threat, Family/others, Use of electricity, Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Other
May 07, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 3121
Emails between Valerie E. Caproni, John F. Curran, T.J. Harrington, and Others re: Reported incidents of possible detainee abuse at Guantanamo Bay. An NAE official reports three incidents he/she witnessed while in Guantanamo Bay on or around ...
Dec. 15, 2004
Email
Thomas J. Harrington
John F. Curran | Valerie E. Caproni
Valerie E. Caproni, Jay W. Hood, Thomas J. Harrington, John F. Curran
Threat, Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Religious, Other
Feb. 14, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 256
Interview conducted by Gen. Taguba of Lt. Colonel James O'Hare of the 800th Military Police Brigade. The Lt. Colonel goes in to detail about how he came to his assignment in Iraq as well as his experiences at Abu Ghraib prison. On his experience ...
Oct. 19, 2004
Interview (Transcript)
Antonio Taguba, David D. McKiernan, Janis Leigh Karpinski, Henry B. Nelson, Gary M. Kluka, John E. Davis, James E. O'Hare, William D. Proietto, Paul Hill, Ricardo Sanchez
Threat, Assault/death, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Nudity
Aug. 23, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 4999

This report discusses an investigation into the alleged abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib Detention Facility. The investigation was ordered initially by LTG Ricardo S. Sanchez, Commander, Combined Joint Task Force Seven (CJTF-7). LTG Sanchez ...

Aug. 25, 2004
Oversight Report, Investigative File (AR 15-6)
Ricardo Sanchez, George R. Fay, Paul J. Kern, Anthony R. Jones, Geoffrey D. Miller, Donald J. Ryder, Antonio Taguba, Barbara G. Fast, Walter Wojdakowski, Thomas G. Miller, Janis Leigh Karpinski, Thomas Pappas, Jerry Phillabaum, Ivan L. Frederick, II, Charles A. Graner, Jr., Steven L. Jordan, Carolyn A. Wood, L. Paul Bremer, Colin L. Powell, Robert P. Walters Jr, Marc Warren, Sabrina D. Harman, Romie Leslie Brownlee, Lynndie Rana England, Daniel Kazmier, Franklin D. Raab, Steven Boltz, David M. Price, L. Potter, Dennis E. Stevanus, Aldo Fierro, Varej Filhanessian, George O'Kane, Anthony Cavallaro, David O. Sutton, First Sergeant McBride, Staff Sergeant Hannifan, Staff Sergeant Cole, David W. DiNenna, Sr. , Sergeant Spiker, Darrell Jarred Plude , Joshua R. Claus, Sergeant Presnell, Sergeant Lawson, Michael D. Thompson
Use of water, Water dousing, Other, Physical assault, Walling, Sexual, General, Threat, Assault/death, Use of electricity, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Religious, Forced grooming, Other
DOJ-OIG | ACLU-RDI 6456
Audio of an interview of Moazzem Begg, a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay, conducted by the DOJ's Office of the Inspector General, as part of its report on the FBI's involvement in the mistreatment of detainees. You can listen to the audio below ...
Interview (Statement)
Moazzam Begg
Physical assault, General, Threat, Assault/death, Rendition, Family/others, Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Isolation
| ACLU-RDI 6550
Report from the Office of Inspector General on Counterterrorism Detention and Interrogation Activities from September 2001-October 2003, specifically focusing on the use of Enhanced Interrogation Techniques (EITs). In a previously released ...
Oversight Report
CIA Office of Inspector General
Bruce Jessen
Gul Rahman, Abu Zubaydah, Abd Al-Rahim Al-Nashiri
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Threat, Mock Burial, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Nudity
| ACLU-RDI 6553
This July 9, 2002 email from [redacted] to [redacted] re: Description of Physical Pressures, includes the contents of a memo from Jim Mitchell describing "potential physical and psychological pressures" to be used on a particular detainee. The ...
Non-legal Memo, Email
James Mitchell
Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Threat, Mock Burial, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Other Humiliation
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