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 (36)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
May 07, 2004 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 6617
Report from the Office of Inspector General on Counterterrorism Detention and Interrogation Activities from September 2001-October 2003, specifically focusing on the use of Enhanced Interrogation Techniques (EITs). In September 2016, a version ...
Sept. 29, 2016
Oversight Report
CIA Office of Inspector General
Bruce Jessen
Gul Rahman, Abu Zubaydah, Abd Al-Rahim Al-Nashiri
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Threat, Mock Burial, Sleep deprivation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Nudity
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
Apr. 30, 2004 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5082
CIA copy of Antiwar.com article describing the release of photographs revealing abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison.
Mar. 15, 2013
Other
Janis Leigh Karpinski, Donald H. Rumsfeld
EIT, Threat, Use of electricity, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual
Apr. 30, 2004 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 5081
CIA copy of London Sky News article describing Prime Minister Tony Blair's response to photographs showing American soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib.
Mar. 15, 2013
Other
Tony Blair, Mark Traecey Patrick Kimmitt, Ivan L. Frederick, II
EIT, Threat, Use of electricity, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Other, Environmental manipulation
May 05, 2004 | ACLU-RDI 5061
This article describes criminal investigations into detainee deaths and assaults in Iraq and Afghanistan in the aftermath of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal. It documents Condoleeza Rice's public "apolog[y] to the Arab world," and Donald ...
Other
Condoleeza Rice, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Richard B. Myers, John McCain, Thomas Andrew Daschle, Tom DeLay, William Frist, Donald J. Ryder, Antonio Taguba, Peter Pace, George W. Casey, Jr.
Physical assault, Threat, Nudity, Other
Aug. 23, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 4999

This report discusses an investigation into the alleged abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib Detention Facility. The investigation was ordered initially by LTG Ricardo S. Sanchez, Commander, Combined Joint Task Force Seven (CJTF-7). LTG Sanchez ...

Aug. 25, 2004
Oversight Report, Investigative File (AR 15-6)
Ricardo Sanchez, George R. Fay, Paul J. Kern, Anthony R. Jones, Geoffrey D. Miller, Donald J. Ryder, Antonio Taguba, Barbara G. Fast, Walter Wojdakowski, Thomas G. Miller, Janis Leigh Karpinski, Thomas Pappas, Jerry Phillabaum, Ivan L. Frederick, II, Charles A. Graner, Jr., Steven L. Jordan, Carolyn A. Wood, L. Paul Bremer, Colin L. Powell, Robert P. Walters Jr, Marc Warren, Sabrina D. Harman, Romie Leslie Brownlee, Lynndie Rana England, Daniel Kazmier, Franklin D. Raab, Steven Boltz, David M. Price, L. Potter, Dennis E. Stevanus, Aldo Fierro, Varej Filhanessian, George O'Kane, Anthony Cavallaro, David O. Sutton, First Sergeant McBride, Staff Sergeant Hannifan, Staff Sergeant Cole, David W. DiNenna, Sr. , Sergeant Spiker, Darrell Jarred Plude , Joshua R. Claus, Sergeant Presnell, Sergeant Lawson, Michael D. Thompson
Use of water, Water dousing, Other, Physical assault, Walling, Sexual, General, Threat, Assault/death, Use of electricity, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Religious, Forced grooming, Other
June 07, 2004 | DOS | ACLU-RDI 4070

Emails discuss and include a Wall Street Journal article entitled "Pentagon Report Set Framework for Use of Torture: Security or Legal Factors Could Trump Restrictions, Memo to Rumsfeld Argued." The article discusses a classified ...

Dec. 30, 2004
Email
Robert K. Harris
Edward R. Cummings | Samuel M. Witten | Tom Malionek | Jonathan B. Schwartz
Donald H. Rumsfeld, George W. Bush, James T. Hill, Condoleeza Rice, Patrick Leahy, William J. Haynes, II, Thomas Malionek, William J. Gehron, Robert K. Harris, Edward R. Cummings, Samuel M. Witten, Michael G. Kozak, James H. Thessin, Jonathan B. Schwartz, William Howard Taft, IV, Robert E. Dalton, Katherine M. Gorove, Lois L. Allder, Daphne W. Cook, Darlyce M. Eley
Threat, Family/others, Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Sexual, Religious
May 25, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 2983
This FBI memo concerns the activities of FBI personnel at Abu Ghraib prison from October 2003 to December 2003. The FBI conducted 15 interviews of military personnel, each being present at Abu Ghraib prison at some point during October 2003 & ...
Dec. 15, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Use of water, Other, Physical assault, General, Threat, Family/others, Use of electricity, Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Other
May 19, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 2829

Cable summarizes the results of 14 interviews of FBI personnel who participated in detainee interviews at Abu Ghraib between October and December 2003. Attached to the cable is a classified chart of FBI personnel who conducted interviews at ...

Dec. 15, 2004
Non-legal Memo
Thomas J. Harrington | Valerie E. Caproni
Thomas J. Harrington, Valerie E. Caproni, Chris Swecker, J. Stephen Tidwell, Janice K. Fedarcyk, Brenton L. Mosher, Warren T. Bamford, Edward J. Barrett
Physical assault, General, Threat, Family/others, Use of electricity, Stress positions, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity
June 29, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 2599
Sworn statement of an Operations Sergeant who discusses interrogation practices. Refers to a detainee, "our number one target," who was captured by Iraqi police, who "beat [redacted] with the pistol to the point where his head was split open in a ...
June 30, 2006
Interview (Statement)
Physical assault, General, Assault/death, Light or sound, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Threat, Environmental manipulation