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 (133)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Jan. 22, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 3625
DOS cover sheet, states that a letter to Donald Rumsfeld requesting permission for an Amnesty delegation to visit the Guantanamo base in Cuba is attached.
Nov. 23, 2004
Letter
Donald H. Rumsfeld
Javier Zuniga, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Frank E. Schmelzer
May 11, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3622
DOS Note cover sheet with handwritten notation sent from Jack Straw to Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Condoleeza Rice and George Tenet are CC'd. No other relevant text.
Nov. 23, 2004
Letter
Donald H. Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Jack Straw, Condoleeza Rice, George J. Tenet, Frank E. Schmelzer
Apr. 01, 2003 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3620
This DOS Cable discusses a visit to a detention facility in Afghanistan. It explains that there was a previous issue at the facility of overcrowding and lack of resources, but that the current climate is better. Also, the cable notes that the ...
Nov. 23, 2004
Cable
Robert P. Finn, Colin L. Powell, Laura E. Kennedy , Franklin Pierce Huddle, Jr., Ryan C. Crocker, John Edward Herbst, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Zalmay Mamozy Khalilzad
Isolation
May 10, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3601
DOS Letter to U.S. Representative, Ike Skelton, regarding the International Committee of the Red Cross' (ICRC) report, which contains allegations of detainee mistreatment in Iraq.
Nov. 23, 2004
Letter
Donald H. Rumsfeld, Condoleeza Rice, Isaac Newton Skelton IV, Colin L. Powell, George W. Bush, P. Michael McKinley, William E. Landfair, Paul V. Kelly, Elizabeth H. Richard
Dec. 03, 2001 | ACLU-RDI 3603
Letter from John Walker Lindh's attorney, James J. Brosnahan, requesting information on the location of his client, detained enemy combatant, John Walker Lindh. Mr. Brosnahan states in his letter that he needs the appropriate government official ...
Nov. 23, 2004
Letter
Colin L. Powell, John D. Ashcroft, Donald H. Rumsfeld, George J. Tenet, Robert M. McNamara, Jr.
John Walker Lindh
Jan. 17, 2002 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 3574
This State Department cable is a report on detainees as well as an assessment of the ground situation in Afghanistan. The cable focuses on a description of the Qandahar airport holding facility holding the Cuba-bound al-Qaida and Taliban ...
Nov. 23, 2004
Cable
Zalmay Mamozy Khalilzad
Zalmay Mamozy Khalilzad, Colin L. Powell, Condoleeza Rice, Stephen Hadley, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz
DOS | ACLU-RDI 3557
State Department Talking Points memo on the use of Guantanamo Bay as a detention facility for Al Qaida and Taliban detainees. The memo provides some background information on the decision to use Guantanamo, including the legislative context and ...
Nov. 23, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Donald H. Rumsfeld, Arlen Specter
Jan. 06, 2005 | Legislative | ACLU-RDI 3549

Questions for Alberto Gonzalez, during his confirmation hearing, including many related to the treatment of detainees

June 01, 2005
Interview (Transcript)
Patrick Leahy
Alberto Gonzalez
Alberto R. Gonzales, John D. Ashcroft, Patrick Leahy, George W. Bush, Colin L. Powell, Donald H. Rumsfeld, George J. Tenet
Apr. 16, 2003 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 3544

A memo from Secretary Rumsfeld approving a set of interrogation techniques, including some that it admits may be "inconsistent with" provisions of the Geneva Conventions.  The techniques include "Pride and Ego Down," ...

June 01, 2005
Non-legal Memo
Donald H. Rumsfeld
James T. Hill
Donald H. Rumsfeld, James T. Hill, Richard B. Myers
Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation
Jan. 15, 2003 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 3543
Department of Defense memo rescinding approval of the use of all Category II techniques and one Category III technique during investigations that were previously approved on December 2, 2002. Attaches memo from Jim Haynes, General Counsel of the ...
June 01, 2005
Non-legal Memo
Donald H. Rumsfeld
James T. Hill
Donald H. Rumsfeld, William J. Haynes, II, James T. Hill