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 (5)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Feb. 02, 2002 | NSC | ACLU-RDI 6823
This document contains a chart labeled "Detainees-Limited Access" from the National Security Council Distribution Receipt West Wing Desk. The chart contains a list of government officials under the "addressee" column.
May 15, 2012
Chart/List
Richard B. Cheney, Colin L. Powell, Donald H. Rumsfeld, John D. Ashcroft, Andrew Card, George J. Tenet, Richard B. Myers
Feb. 07, 2002 | WH | ACLU-RDI 4684
This White House memo discusses the treatment of detainees taken in the War on Terror and how they are to be classified and the determination of their legal status.
June 08, 2005
Non-legal Memo
George W. Bush
Richard B. Cheney | Colin L. Powell | Donald H. Rumsfeld | John D. Ashcroft | I. Lewis Libby | George Tenet | Condoleeza Rice
George W. Bush, Richard B. Cheney, Colin L. Powell, John D. Ashcroft, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Condoleeza Rice, I. Lewis Libby, George J. Tenet
Nov. 13, 2001 | WH | ACLU-RDI 4704
Presidential Military Order concerning the Detention, Treatment and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War against Terrorism. The Order is the basis for the authority to apprehend, detain and place on trial via Military Commissions persons who ...
June 08, 2005
Non-legal Memo
George W. Bush
George W. Bush, Donald H. Rumsfeld
Feb. 24, 2004 | EOP | ACLU-RDI 4697
White House memo from Alberto R. Gonzalez, Counsel to the President, concerning detention Issues in the War on Terrorism.
May 04, 2005
Non-legal Memo
Alberto Gonzalez
George W. Bush
George W. Bush, Alberto R. Gonzales, Donald H. Rumsfeld
Yaser Esam Hamdi, Jose Padilla
Nov. 13, 2001 | WH | ACLU-RDI 4377
White House Press Release on the Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War Against Terrorism. The memo/press release is broken in to sections that list: Findings; Definition and Policy; Orders and regulations that pertain ...
Dec. 23, 2004
Non-legal Memo, Other
George W. Bush
George W. Bush, Donald H. Rumsfeld