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)

A memo from John Yoo to John Bellinger analyzing whether the President may suspend certain articles of the ABM treaty.  The concludes that in both cases proposed, the president may suspend the articles.

Mar. 02, 2009
Legal Memo
John C. Yoo | Robert J. Delahunty
John Bellinger
John C. Yoo, John B. Bellinger, III, Robert J. Delahunty

An OLC memo concluding that, “the President has plenary constitutional authority, as the commander in chief, to transfer such individuals who are held and captured outside the United States to the control of another country.” ...

An OLC memo concluding that Congress cannot interfere with the President's exercise of his authority as Commander in Chief to control the conduct of operations during war, including his authority to promulgate rules to regulate military ...

Mar. 02, 2009
Legal Memo
Patrick Philbin
Daniel J. Bryant
Patrick Philbin, Daniel J. Bryant, John C. Yoo

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.

An OLC memo concluding that the “the President’s authority to detain enemy combatants, including U.S. citizens, is based on his constitutional authority as Commander in Chief” and that the Non-Detention Act cannot interfere ...

An OLC memo advising “that caution should be exercised before relying in any respect” on John C. Yoo’s October 23, 2001 memo, Authority for Use of Military Force to Combat Terrorist Activities Within the United States. ...

Mar. 02, 2009
Legal Memo
Steven G. Bradbury
Steven G. Bradbury, John C. Yoo, Alberto R. Gonzales, William J. Haynes, II, Robert J. Delahunty

An OLC memo stating that "the purpose of this memorandum is to confirm that certain propositions stated in several opinions issued by the Office of Legal Counsel in 2001-2003 respecting the allocation of authorities between the President ...

A letter from the DOJ to Judge Hellerstein regarding the CIA's destruction of interrogation videotapes and the ACLU's motion to hold the CIA in contempt for that destruction.

Mar. 02, 2009
Letter, Judicial
Lev L. Dassin | Sean H. Lane | Peter M. Skinner
Alvin K. Hellerstein
John H. Durham, Sean H. Lane, Peter M. Skinner, Lev L. Dassin, Alvin K. Hellerstein
This memo from John C. Yoo, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, to the President of the American Bar Association provides the legal justification for the treatment of U.S. Civilians as Enemy Combatants, specifically regarding their lack of right ...
Jan. 07, 2009
Non-legal Memo
John C. Yoo
William J. Haynes, II
Robert Hirshon , Alfred P. Carlton Jr.
CID investigation into the death of a detainee, Major General (MG) Abed Hamed Mowhoush. MG Mowhoush was interrogated by U.S. personnel on November 24 and 26, 2003. The names of the interrogators are redacted (except for Staff Sgt. Aaron N. ...
Nov. 10, 2008
Investigative File (CID)
Abed Hamed Mowhoush
Physical assault, General, Stress positions, Other