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 (4791)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
July 22, 2004 | DOJ | ACLU-RDI 4576
In a letter to Acting CIA Director McLaughlin, Attorney General Ashcroft confirms his advice that the use of certain interrogation techniques (other than waterboarding) in the interrogation of a particular detainee outside territory subject to ...
Aug. 24, 2009
Letter
John D. Ashcroft
John E. McLaughlin
John D. Ashcroft, John McLaughlin, John A. Rizzo, Jay S. Bybee
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
Dec. 22, 2004 | DOJ-OIG | ACLU-RDI 6373
This document is an email alerting recipients that, after discussions with FBI Director Mueller, FBI is sending DoD 8 interviews with agents who reported seeing actions that might constitute detainee mistreatment.
July 20, 2009
Email
Valerie E. Caproni
Thomas J. Harrington
Valerie E. Caproni, Thomas J. Harrington
Jan. 25, 2005 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 6374
This document is an email from Valerie E. Caproni to redacted recipient suggesting more information on abuses that occurred in Afghanistan be added to a QFR response to Senator Leahy's inquiry.
July 20, 2009
Email
Valerie E. Caproni
Valerie E. Caproni
July 15, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 6376
This email briefly discusses a letter drafted by CIRG to ORG to send to the Department of Defense regarding detainee treatment observed by members of the Behavioral Analysis Unit at GTMO. The response states that the redacted respondent has no ...
May 13, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 6380
This document is an email chain discussing acquiring agents for an interrogation and the allowability of various interrogation methods. One email mentions that "due to the issues at Abu G prison," interrogations have been suspended but "will in a ...
Nov. 04, 2004 | DOA | ACLU-RDI 6385
This document is a letter from the US Army trial counsel responsible for prosecuting Specialist [redacted] and Sergeant [redacted] "in connection with detainee abuse at the Baghdad Central Confinement Facility." The letter mentions a New York ...
June 09, 2009 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 4609

The Vaughn declaration of CIA Director Leon Panetta, discussing CIA records that describe the contents of the videotapes destroyed by the CIA.  The declaration notes that the records primarily concern the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah and ...

June 09, 2009
Judicial (Affidavit/Declaration, Vaughn Declaration/Index)
Leon E. Panetta
Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein
Leon E. Panetta
Abu Zubaydah
EIT
June 09, 2009 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 4610

The CIA's Vaughn Index of records describing the contents of the interrogation videotapes destroyed by the CIA.  This Index was attached to Leon Panetta's Vaughn Declaration of the same date.  Most of the records listed in the Index ...

June 09, 2009
Judicial (Vaughn Declaration/Index)
Leon E. Panetta
Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein
Abu Zubaydah
EIT, Waterboarding, Use of water
Aug. 19, 2004 | ACLU-RDI 6148
An email to an FBI official stating "Greetings from Mexico City" with a file attachment.
Aug. 03, 2004 | FBI | ACLU-RDI 6145
A negative response to an FBI inquiry into aggressive treatment of detainees and/or harsh techniques/interrogations by FBI agents at Guantanamo Bay.