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 (62)

An OLC memo from Steven Bradbury to John Rizzo analyzing whether certain conditions of confinement used by the CIA in covert overseas facilities are consistent with Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions.  The conditions are: (1) ...

A letter providing legal advice regarding whether the conditions of detention at certain oversears CIA facilities are consistent with the applicable standards of the DTA.  It concludes that the conditions of confinement did not constitute ...

A letter from the OLC providing legal advice regarding the continued use of sleep deprivation on a detainee. It concludes that continued use would be consistent with all applicable law, and that "the continuation of the technique ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Legal Memo, Letter
Steven G. Bradbury
Steven G. Bradbury, John A. Rizzo
EIT, Sleep deprivation

A letter from the OLC providing legal advice regarding the continued use of sleep deprivation on a detainee.  It concludes that continued use would be consistent with all applicable law, and that "the continuation of the ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Legal Memo, Letter
Steven G. Bradbury
Steven G. Bradbury, John A. Rizzo
EIT, Sleep deprivation

A letter from the OLC providing legal advice regarding the continued use of sleep deprivation on a detainee. It concludes that continued use would be consistent with all applicable law, and that "the continuation of the technique … ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Legal Memo, Letter
Steven G. Bradbury
Steven G. Bradbury, John A. Rizzo
EIT, Sleep deprivation

An OLC memo withdrawing the interrogation memo of July 20, 2007.

Aug. 24, 2009
Legal Memo
David J. Barron
Eric H. Holder, Jr.
David J. Barron, Eric H. Holder, Jr., John A. Rizzo, Steven G. Bradbury

A draft psychological assessment of Abu Zubaydah faxed to John Yoo from the CIA.  The assessment provides background information ("for at least a decade, subject has lived and worked within an environment that has condoned, nurtured, ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Non-legal Memo, Medical (Psychological)
John C. Yoo
John C. Yoo
Abu Zubaydah

This memo on confinement conditions for CIA detainees is divided into sections: 1) minimums; 2) implementing procedures; 3) responsible CIA officer; 4) [redacted].  An acknowledgment form/waiver is attached. [OLC Vaughn Index #11]

Aug. 24, 2009
Non-legal Memo
George Tenet
George J. Tenet
This CIA memo provides guidelines on interrogations of detainees, Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters. The memo is divided into the following sections: 1) Permissible Interrogation Techniques; 2) Medical and Psychological Personnel; 3) Interrogation ...