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 (116)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
CIA | ACLU-RDI 6828
This document, prepared by the Chief of Medical Services, summarizes and reflects upon the rendition, detention and interrogation program. The findings include that in a particular no evidence was found that the use of waterboard produced ...
Aug. 14, 2018
Non-legal Memo, Medical
Bruce Jessen, James Mitchell
Abu Zubaydah, Gul Rahman
EIT, SERE, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, General, Face slap or insult slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Threat, Mock Burial, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Nudity
Feb. 28, 2002 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 6804
This memorandum authored by Bruce Jessen and others to Col. Coomey on February 28, 2002 includes specific recommendations for interrogation procedures based on conditions at Camp X-Ray. The memorandum contains "Cardinal Pre-Conditions for ...
Feb. 03, 2017
Non-legal Memo
Bruce Jessen
Bruce Jessen
EIT, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Other Humiliation
| ACLU-RDI 6799
These slides contain the first section of a two-part presentation given by Dr. Bruce Jessen to train American interrogators headed to Guantanamo Bay on how to extract information from detainees.
Feb. 03, 2017
Chart/List, Other
Bruce Jessen
EIT, Isolation, Environmental manipulation
Apr. 01, 2002 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 6678
This is a memo from the CIA which describes the month-long custody and interrogation of detainee Abu Zubaydah and requests comments from Alec/HQs "on establishing the priority focus of the ongoing interrogations of Abu Zubaydah".
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
Abu Zubaydah, Abd Al-Rahman M. Al-Umari
EIT, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound
| ACLU-RDI 6703
This memo includes: 1) a chronology detailing the evolution of the CIA's High-Value Detainee Interrogation Techniques, how they were defined, legalized, and authorized; 2) a report on the intelligence collected after the application of the ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Non-legal Memo
Abu Zubaydah, Abdul Hadi Al-Iraqi, Mohammed Rahim Noori, Walid Bin Attash, Abd al Aziz Ali, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Issa al-Hindi, Hassan Ghul, Riduan "Hambali" Isamuddin, Abu Talha al-Pakistani, Jafaar al-Tayyar, Jose Padilla, Binyam Mohamed
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding, Water dousing, Face slap or insult slap, Stomach/abdominal slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Threat, Mock Burial, Rendition, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity, Other Humiliation, Forced grooming, Physical assault
June 18, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 6720
This June 18, 2002 cable details the message that the interrogation team delivered to Abu Zubaydah, which is redacted, the interrogation techniques used on him and his reactions to them, and an assessment of his resistance posture. The cable ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
Abu Zubaydah
SERE, Physical assault, Attention grasp, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling, Nudity
June 22, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 6683
This cable describes a redacted detainee's behavior in the fourth day of a three week isolation phase.
Dec. 20, 2016
Cable
EIT, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling
Nov. 01, 2002 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 6734
This is a report from interrogators at COBALT, a CIA black site in Northern Kabul, Afghanistan, describing the status of Gul Rahman's interrogation. It is reported that Rahman was not responding to interrogation by Bruce Jessen; the responder ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Non-legal Memo, Email, Cable
Bruce Jessen
Gul Rahman
EIT, Use of water, Other, Physical assault, General, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature
CIA | ACLU-RDI 6557
This document, prepared by the Chief of Medical Services, summarizes and reflects upon the rendition, detention and interrogation program. The findings include that in a particular no evidence was found that the use of waterboard produced ...
Sept. 30, 2016
Non-legal Memo
James Mitchell , Bruce Jessen
Abu Zubaydah, Gul Rahman
EIT, SERE, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, General, Face slap or insult slap, Attention grasp, Facial hold, Walling, Threat, Mock Burial, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Nudity
Apr. 27, 2005 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 6616
This report details the investigation into the death of Gul Rahman. This re-released report includes a description of psychologist Bruce Jessen and his role in the interrogation of Gul Rahman. A version of this document was re-released in ...
Sept. 29, 2016
Oversight Report
CIA Office of the Inspector General
Bruce Jessen, John Helgerson, James Mitchell
Gul Rahman
EIT, Use of water, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Attention grasp, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Sleep deprivation, Isolation, Environmental manipulation, Light or sound, Temperature, Nudity