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 (6015)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
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
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
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
Apr. 12, 2007 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 6629
This document is testimony given by Steven Bradbury, acting Assistant Attorney General of the OLC before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. The testimony contains Mr. Bradbury's summary of the four legal standards that apply to the ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Interview (Statement)
Steven G. Bradbury
Steven G. Bradbury
EIT
June 01, 2006 | CIA-OGC | ACLU-RDI 6631
This document is a fax from John Rizzo to Steven Bradbury containing Mr. Rizzo's draft Q&A responses for an upcoming hearing on detention and interrogation.
Aug. 31, 2016
Cable
John A. Rizzo
Steven G. Bradbury
Steven G. Bradbury, John A. Rizzo, John C. Yoo, Jay S. Bybee, William J. Haynes, II, Jack L. Goldsmith, Alberto R. Gonzales, Scott W. Muller, Daniel B. Levin, John Ashcroft
EIT
July 22, 2004 | DOJ | ACLU-RDI 6578
In the 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. 31, 2016
Legal Memo, Letter
John D. Ashcroft
John E. McLaughlin
John McLaughlin, David Ayres, John A. Rizzo, Jay Bybee
Use of water, Waterboarding
July 24, 2007 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 6564
This letter from Steven Bradbury to the CIA's Associate General Counsel is a response to the CIA's July 24, 2007 letter regarding the interrogation of [redacted]. This letter states that applying the interrogation technique in question for the ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Letter
Steven G. Bradbury
May 20, 2005 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 6562
This letter from Steven Bradbury, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, confirms that the legal guidance of the Attorney General's office as stated in a December 14, 2004 letter from Daniel Levin to John Rizzo, still pertains.
Aug. 31, 2016
Letter
Steve Bradbury
John A. Rizzo, Daniel B. Levin, Steven G. Bradbury
Aug. 31, 2006 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 6563
This letter from Steven Bradbury to John Rizzo memorializes the advice that Bradbury gave to Rizzo regarding whether the conditions of confinement used by the CIA in its covert overseas facilities are consistent with common Article 3 of the 1949 ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Letter
Steven G. Bradbury
John A. Rizzo
Steven G. Bradbury, John A. Rizzo
Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Other
Aug. 23, 2007 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 6565
This letter from Steven Bradbury to the CIA's Associate General Counsel is a response to the CIA's August 23, 2007 letter regarding the interrogation of [redacted]. This letter states that applying the interrogation technique in question for the ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Letter
Steven G. Bradbury