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 (6709)

This email chain discusses the use, purpose, and constraints of psychological support in interrogations and includes feedback from Jim Mitchell.
Dec. 20, 2016
Email
Bruce Jessen, James Mitchell
SERE
This cable describes the current state of the interrogations for Abu Zubaydah and recommends the use of sleep deprivation to "degrade his ability to keep up his full mental capacities."
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
Abu Zubaydah
EIT, Sleep deprivation
This CIA cable states that Rizzo, Bellinger, Gonzales, and Yoo have been briefed on the interrogation plan for Abu Zubaydah and all approve. The cable also mentions the IC SERE Psychologists managing the psychological aspects of Abu Zubaydah's ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
John B. Bellinger, III, Alberto R. Gonzales, John A. Rizzo, John Yoo
Abu Zubaydah
This CIA document is heavily redacted and identifies James Mitchell and Bruce Jessen as contractors who administered enhanced interrogation techniques to Abu Zubaydah and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.
Dec. 20, 2016
Non-legal Memo
James Mitchell , Bruce Jessen
Abu Zubaydah, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
EIT
This message includes notes on the attached revised interrogation plan, and discusses the role of the CIA's Operational Assessment Division in implementing this plan.
Dec. 20, 2016
Notes
SERE
This CIA memo discusses the timeline for the use of enhanced interrogation techniques post 9/11 on high value detainees at black sites.
Dec. 20, 2016
Non-legal Memo
George J. Tenet, George Bush
EIT, SERE
This CIA memorandum for the Deputy Director of Operations is a review of the CIA Detainee Program with particular focus on the guidelines for detention and interrogation on May 12, 2004. The memorandum is heavily redacted and states that the CIA ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Non-legal Memo
Henry A. Crumpton
This CIA cable describes Abu Zubaydah's condition in detention as of July 19, 2002. The cable states that the next stage of Zubaydah's detention will include confinement, dressing changes, walling and a head immobilizer, as requested by IC SERE ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
Abu Zubaydah
EIT, Walling, Cramped confinement, Isolation, Other, Physical assault
This e-mail from an anonymous source to James Mitchell expresses interest in training with Mitchell and Bruce Jessen for future interrogations and discusses psychological techniques from Mitchell and Jessen's recent paper presented at a conference.
Dec. 20, 2016
Email
James Mitchell
James Mitchell , Bruce Jessen
SERE
This is an email (with sender and receiver redacted) sending a final draft of the CIA High Value Target Interrogation and Exploitation (HVTIE) Team Training document. The postscript note in the email mentions Mitchell and Jessen by name and ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Email
James Mitchell , Bruce Jessen
SERE