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 (4745)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Dec. 30, 2004 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 6572
This December 30, 2004 OLC memo from Daniel Levin interprets the federal criminal prohibition against torture. This memo supersedes the August 2002 memorandum ("Standards of Conduct under 18 U.S.C. §§ 2340–2340A") in its entirety.
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
Daniel B. Levin
Deputy Attorney General
Aug. 01, 2002 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 6571
This August 1, 2002 memo from John C. Yoo to Alberto Gonzales discusses standards of conduct for interrogations under the Torture Convention and under the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court.
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
John C. Yoo
Alberto Gonzalez
John C. Yoo, Alberto Gonzalez, Jay Bybee
July 13, 2002 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 6570
An OLC memo from John Yoo to John Rizzo regarding "what is necessary to establish the crime of torture." The memo states that an individual must act with the "specific intent" to inflict severe mental pain or suffering to have committed torture, ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
John C. Yoo
John A. Rizzo
John C. Yoo, John A. Rizzo, Jennifer Koester
Sept. 25, 2001 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 6569
This September 25, 2009 OLC memo from John Yoo finds that in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the President has the constitutional power to 1) retaliate against any person, organization, or state suspected of involvement in these attacks ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
John C. Yoo
Deputy Counsel to the President
Jan. 22, 2002 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 6568
This Jan. 22, 2002 memo from Jay Bybee (OLC) to Alberto R. Gonzales (Counsel to Pres. George W. Bush) and William H. Haynes II (General Counsel of the DOD) responds to a request for advice on the effect of the War Crimes Act and the Geneva ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
Jay S. Bybee
Alberto Gonzalez | William J. Haynes, II
Alberto Gonzalez, William J. Haynes, II, Jay S. Bybee, George W. Bush
Nov. 07, 2007 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 6567
This letter from Steven Bradbury to the CIA's Associate General Counsel is a response to the CIA's November 7, 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
Nov. 06, 2007 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 6566
This letter from Steven Bradbury to the CIA's Associate General Counsel is a response to the CIA's November 6, 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
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
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
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