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 (143)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Feb. 18, 2004 | DOD | ACLU-RDI 6816
This memo from Paul Wolfowitz, US Deputy Secretary of Defense, to the Attorney General and the directors of the CIA and FBI provides notes and talking points on the most dangerous enemy combatants detained at Guantanamo to provide to the press in ...
Dec. 15, 2009
Non-legal Memo
Paul Wolfowitz
Alberto R. Gonzales | John McLaughlin | James B. Comey
Geoffrey D. Miller, Paul W. Butler
Abu Zubaydah
May 13, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 6276
The document is an internal FBI email with attachments that include a description of interrogation technique concerns raised to Commanding General Miller as well as an outline of approved coercive techniques used by the military.
June 15, 2011
Email
Geoffrey D. Miller
Mohammed al Qahtani
June 01, 2005 | DOJ-OIG | ACLU-RDI 6213
The document includes information about a document request made by the Department of Justice's Office of Inspector General regarding detainee issues, specifically any documents related to the disagreements concerning interrogation plans and ...
Other
Valerie E. Caproni, Geoffrey D. Miller
Mohammed al Qahtani, Juma Mohammed Abdul Latif al Dosari, Ghassan Abdullah al Sharbi, Mohamedou Ould Slahi
Feb. 24, 2009 | DOJ-OIG | ACLU-RDI 6170
The document includes notes from interviews conducted with FBI personnel [Redacted], regarding his knowledge of EC's from the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit, the military's interrogation techniques and strategies, and his experiences serving in ...
Interview (Summaries/Notes)
Marion E. Bowman, Thomas J. Harrington, Donald J. Ryder, Valerie E. Caproni, Gary M. Bald, Arthur M. Cummings, II, Frankie Battle, Geoffrey D. Miller, Michael B. Steinbach
Mohammed al Qahtani
Feb. 25, 2009 | DOJ-OIG | ACLU-RDI 6160
The document includes notes from interviews conducted with FBI personnel [Redacted], regarding his work experience with the Hostage Rescue Team, concerns about the Department of Defense's interrogation techniques, and the discrepancy between his ...
Interview (Summaries/Notes)
Andrew Arena, Pasquale D'Amuro, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Michael E. Dunlavey , Geoffrey D. Miller, David E. Nahmias, Marion E. Bowman, John Ashcroft, Frankie Battle, Thomas J. Harrington, Raymond Mey, Arthur M. Cummings, II, Larry A. Mefford, John S. Pistole, Gary M. Bald, Robert S. Mueller, Chuck Rosenberg, Michael Chertoff, Alice Fisher, Laura H. Parsky, Bruce Swartz, Paul Wolfowitz, Willie T. Hulon, Michael J. Heimbach
Feb. 24, 2009 | DOJ-OIG | ACLU-RDI 6152
The document includes notes from interviews conducted with FBI personnel Bruce Swartz, regarding his knowledge about FBI concerns related to the mistreatment of detainees as well as his knowledge related to incidents of alleged detainee ...
Interview (Summaries/Notes)
Bruce Swartz, Alice Fisher, Michael Chertoff, Christopher A. Wray, John Richter, Laura H. Parsky, John B. Bellinger, III, John Ashcroft, Larry Thompson, David E. Nahmias, Thomas J. Harrington, Pasquale D'Amuro, Geoffrey D. Miller
May 04, 2004 | ACLU-RDI 5121
CIA copy of the complete text of the Article 15-6 Investigation of the 800th Military Policy Brigade by Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba (the U.S. Army's report on Iraqi prisoner abuse at the Abu Ghraib Prison in Baghdad). The report is also known ...
Jan. 14, 2014
Other
Antonio Taguba, Ricardo Sanchez, David D. McKiernan, R. Steven Whitcomb, Kinard J. La Fate, Donald J. Ryder, Geoffrey D. Miller, Thomas Pappas, Jerry Phillabaum, Donald J. Reese , Janis Leigh Karpinski, Luciana Spencer, Jeremy C. Sivits, Sabrina D. Harman, Javal Sean Davis, Lynndie Rana England
Apr. 30, 2004 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5104
CIA copy of a New Yorker article tracing the responsibility for American soldiers brutalizing Iraqis at Abu Ghraib.
Mar. 15, 2013
Other
Janis Leigh Karpinski, Ricardo Sanchez, Antonio Taguba, Ivan L. Frederick, II, Charles A. Graner, Jr., Javal Sean Davis, Megan M. Ambuhl, Sabrina D. Harman, Jeremy C. Sivits, Lynndie Rana England, Joseph M. Darby, Scott Bobeck, Jerry Phillabaum, Donald J. Ryder, Jason Kennel, Thomas Pappas, Steven Jordan, Geoffrey D. Miller, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Ricardo Sanchez
EIT, Use of water, Water dousing, Other, Physical assault, General, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Sexual, Threat, Assault/death, Use of electricity, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual
May 05, 2004 | ACLU-RDI 5057
This article describes the government's criminal investigations into the abuse of prisoners in U.S. custody in Iraq and Afghanistan following the Abu Ghraib scandal. The report describes ongoing investigations by the CIA's Inspector General and ...
Mar. 15, 2013
Other
George W. Bush, Antonio Taguba, Janis Leigh Karpinski, Abdul Basat Al-Turki, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Condoleeza Rice, John Warner, Edward M. Kennedy, Carl Levin, Geoffrey D. Miller
Abed Hamed Mowhoush
May 24, 2004 | ACLU-RDI 5047

This May 24, 2004 Newsweek article discusses the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal. It describes legal justifications for the Bush administration's interrogation program.

Mar. 15, 2013
Other
George W. Bush, Jane Harman, Lindsey Graham, Larry DiRita, Donald H. Rumsfeld, John Ashcroft, Cofer Black, Colin L. Powell, John C. Yoo, William Howard Taft, IV, Alberto R. Gonzales, Rick Baccus, Richard B. Myers, William J. Haynes, II, Geoffrey D. Miller, Stephen A. Cambone, William G. Boykin, Janis Leigh Karpinski, Paul Wayne Bergrin, Ricardo Sanchez
Physical assault