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 (51)

RelevanceDateRelease Date
Dec. 01, 2002 | CIA | ACLU-RDI 6728
This is a moderately redacted cable which summarizes the mechanics and legal basis for use of enhanced interrogation techniques on detainees. The cable states that "our attorneys have presented our legal analysis to the legal adviser to the NSC, ...
Dec. 20, 2016
Legal Memo, Cable
EIT, SERE, Use of water, Waterboarding, Physical assault, Face slap or insult slap, Attention grasp, Walling, Stress positions, Cramped confinement, Use of phobias, Sleep deprivation, Other Humiliation, Sexual
Jan. 22, 2002 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 6568
This Jan. 22, 2002 memo from Jay Bybee (OLC) to Alberto R. Gonzales (Counsel to Pres. George W. Bush) and William H. Haynes II (General Counsel of the DOD) responds to a request for advice on the effect of the War Crimes Act and the Geneva ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
Jay S. Bybee
Alberto Gonzalez | William J. Haynes, II
Alberto Gonzalez, William J. Haynes, II, Jay S. Bybee, George W. Bush
Aug. 01, 2002 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 6571
This August 1, 2002 memo from John C. Yoo to Alberto Gonzales discusses standards of conduct for interrogations under the Torture Convention and under the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court.
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
John C. Yoo
Alberto Gonzalez
John C. Yoo, Alberto Gonzalez, Jay Bybee
July 02, 2004 | CIA-OGC | ACLU-RDI 6611
This letter from Scott Muller to John Bellinger concerns further discussions that clarified the approval of certain interrogation techniques. He writes, "the authorized techniques are those previously approved for use with Abu Zubaydah (with the ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo, Letter
Scott W. Muller
John B. Bellinger | James B. Comey
James B. Comey, John B. Bellinger, III, Donald H. Rumsfeld, Scott W. Muller
Abu Zubaydah
EIT, Use of water, Waterboarding
Sept. 25, 2001 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 6569
This September 25, 2009 OLC memo from John Yoo finds that in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the President has the constitutional power to 1) retaliate against any person, organization, or state suspected of involvement in these attacks ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
John C. Yoo
Deputy Counsel to the President
Aug. 01, 2002 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 6558
This memorandum from the Office of the Assistant Attorney General to Alberto Gonzales examines the legal standards of conduct for interrogations under the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
Office of the Assistant Attorney General
Alberto R. Gonzales
Alberto R. Gonzales
Physical assault, Threat, Assault/death, Sleep deprivation, Dietary manipulation, Environmental manipulation, Hooding/Goggling
OLC | ACLU-RDI 6596
This legal memorandum from John Yoo to Alberto Gonzales addresses treaties and laws applicable to the conflict in Afghanistan and the treatment of persons captured by U.S. armed forces. The memorandum concludes that these treaties do not protect ...
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
John C. Yoo
Alberto R. Gonzales
John C. Yoo, Alberto R. Gonzales, Robert J. Delahunty
Feb. 07, 2002 | OLC | ACLU-RDI 6581
This February 7, 2002 OLC memo from Jay Bybee finds that the President has "reasonable factual grounds" to determine that no members of the Taliban militia are entitled prisoner of war status under Article 4 of the third Geneva Convention (1949).
Aug. 31, 2016
Legal Memo
Jay S. Bybee
Counsel to the President
Jay S. Bybee
Aug. 16, 2002 | ACLU-RDI 6821
This document contains a citizen's letter to President Bush voicing disapproval that Afghan prisoners are not treated like prisoners of war and includes an attached article from the San Francisco Chronicle. The document also contains an August ...
May 15, 2012
Letter
George W. Bush
Anne Crowther
Feb. 07, 2002 | WH | ACLU-RDI 6822
This February 7, 2002 memorandum announces to the vice president, secretary of state, attorney general, CIA director, and others that the President accepts the legal conclusions of the Department of Justice that the Geneva Conventions do not ...
May 15, 2012
Non-legal Memo
George W. Bush
Richard B. Cheney
Colin L. Powell, Condoleeza Rice, Jay B. Stephens, Andrew Card, George J. Tenet, Richard B. Myers