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 (39)

This letter from the Director of National Intelligence to Jameel Jeffer of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a response to the ACLU's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) of December 9, 2008.
Oct. 31, 2014
Letter
Jennifer Hudson
Jameel Jaffer
Jennifer Hudson
This Cable from DOS Washington to the US Mission in Geneva, Switzerland contains a letter from US Sec. of State Colin Powell to the human rights group Amnesty International regarding detainees held by the US government at Guantanamo Bay Detention ...
Oct. 28, 2011
Cable, Letter
Colin L. Powell
This is a letter from the Acting CIA Assistant Inspector General for Investigations to a doctor for potentially retaining them as a medical expert in the upcoming trial of David Anthony Passaro. Mr. Passaro was a CIA contractor charged with four ...
Mar. 11, 2011
Letter
David Anthony Passaro, David A. Passaro
This DOJ Letter from Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney, Southern District of New York to Alexander Abdo of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) responds to the ACLU's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request of October 16, 2009.
Jan. 14, 2011
Letter, Other
Preet Bharara
Alexander Abdo
Preet Bharara, Tara M. LaMorte
DOJ letter regarding ACLU, et al., v. Department of Defense, et al., which states that the CIA has re-reviewed documents concerning waterboarding and produced redacted versions of some of those documents. Letter also mentions that on May 12, ...
May 23, 2008
Letter, Judicial
Michael J. Garcia | Sean H. Lane | Peter M. Skinner
Melanca D. Clark
Michael J. Garcia, Sean H. Lane, Peter M. Skinner
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
Letter addressed to a detainee, giving the basis for his detention (participation in attacks on Coalition Forces) and informing him of his rights (right to appeal under Art. 78 of Geneva Convention).
Letter from David N. Kelley, U.S. Attorney, DOJ to Lawrence S. Lustberg, Megan Lewis, Gibbons, Del Deo, Dolan, Griffinger & Vecchione, P.C., attorneys for the ACLU re: the ACLU's FOIA Request (ACLU, et al., v. Department of Defense, et al., No. ...
Aug. 09, 2005
Letter, Judicial
David N. Kelley | Sean H. Lane | Peter M. Skinner
Lawrence S. Lustberg | Megan Lewis
David N. Kelley, Sean H. Lane, Peter M. Skinner
This letter from Nathan J. Whitling, an attorney representing Omar Ahmed Khadr, a Guantanamo Bay Detainee and a Canadian citizen. Mr. Whitling states "we must express our grave concern in relation to the issues raised by these allegations of the ...
June 08, 2005
Letter
Nathan J. Whitling
Bill Graham
Omar Ahmed Khadr
This letter is a follow-up to previous letters sent to Canadian Foreign Affairs officials concerning Mr. Omar Ahmed Khadr, a Guantanamo Bay Detainee. The letter requests that the Canadian Department of Foreign. Affairs and International Trade ...
June 08, 2005
Letter
Nathan J. Whitling
Bill Graham
Omar Ahmed Khadr
This letter is a response from the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bill Graham to Dennis Edney of Edley, Hattersley & Dolphin concerning a Guantanamo detainee Omar Ahmed Khadr, who is a Canadian citizen. Mr. Graham acknowledges Mr. Edney's ...
June 08, 2005
Letter
Bill Graham
Dennis Edney
Omar Ahmed Khadr