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
Sept. 01, 2004 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 4584

An OLC memo from Daniel Levin (Acting Assistant Attorney General) to John Ashcroft (Attorney General) and James Comey (Deputy Attorney General), updating them on the status of interrogation advice. The letter contains sections for general ...

Aug. 24, 2009
Legal Memo
Daniel B. Levin
John D. Ashcroft | James B. Comey
Daniel B. Levin, John D. Ashcroft, James B. Comey, Jay S. Bybee, Alberto R. Gonzales, John A. Rizzo, John McLaughlin, William J. Haynes, II, John C. Yoo, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Jack L. Goldsmith, Scott W. Muller
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation
June 08, 2002 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 4544

An OLC memo concluding that “the military has the legal authority to detain [Jose Padilla] as a prisoner captured during an international armed conflict,” and that the Posse Comitatus Act poses no bar.

Mar. 02, 2009
Legal Memo
Jay S. Bybee
John D. Ashcroft
John D. Ashcroft, Jay S. Bybee, William J. Haynes, II, Alberto R. Gonzales, Patrick Philbin, Robert J. Delahunty, Timothy E. Flanigan
Jose Padilla
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
June 14, 2004 | ACLU-RDI 3226

Letter from Michael Posner, the Executive Director of Human Rights First to Attorney General John Ashcroft. The letter requests information on the investigation of those who reportedly committed acts of torture to hold them legally responsible ...

Dec. 15, 2004
Letter
Michael Posner
John D. Ashcroft
John D. Ashcroft
May 07, 2004 | Legislative | ACLU-RDI 2736
Letter seeking response regarding the contradiction between testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee and media reports regarding the investigation of abuses by contractors at Abu Ghraib.
Oct. 15, 2004
Letter
Patrick Leahy
John D. Ashcroft
Patrick Leahy, John D. Ashcroft, William E. Moschella
Manadel Al-Jamadi