Salim v. Mitchell – Lawsuit Against Psychologists Behind CIA Torture Program
What's at Stake
The ACLU filed a lawsuit against James Elmer Mitchell and John “Bruce” Jessen, two psychologists contracted by the CIA to design, implement, and oversee the agency’s post-9/11 torture program. The suit, filed in October 2015 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, was on behalf of three of the program’s victims. All three were kidnapped by the CIA, and tortured and experimented upon according to Mitchell and Jessen’s protocols. One of the men died as a result of his torture. The other two continue to suffer the effects of the physical and psychological torture inflicted on them. In August 2017, after the judge rejected attempts to dismiss the case and a trial was imminent, the psychologists agreed to a settlement — a first for a case involving CIA torture.
Summary
As detailed in the Senate torture report summary and other government documents, Mitchell and Jessen played a key role in convincing the CIA to adopt torture as a matter of policy when President Bush authorized it to establish a detention and interrogation program.
Drawing on their experience as psychologists and relying on experiments conducted on dogs in the 1960s, Mitchell and Jessen proposed that CIA prisoners should be psychologically destroyed through the infliction of severe mental and physical pain and suffering. They theorized that inducing a state of “learned helplessness” in captives would eradicate any resistance they might have to interrogation. This theory had never been – and could not legally or ethically be – tested, and their program involved not only torturing prisoners but experimenting on them in violation of the international ban on non-consensual human experimentation.
The CIA adopted Mitchell and Jessen’s proposals, and in August 2002, the agency secured Justice Department authorization in two of the infamous “torture memos” for the use of the psychologists’ cruelest methods. The so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques” that the Justice Department approved were specifically designed by Mitchell and Jessen to induce learned helplessness in the first prisoner in the CIA program, Abu Zubaydah. Abu Zubaydah’s torture, which Mitchell and Jessen personally conducted, served as a model for the torture of other prisoners captured and detained by the CIA.
The CIA paid the two men and the company they later formed tens of millions of dollars over the next eight years to implement and refine the resulting program. Mitchell and Jessen designed the abusive procedures, conditions, and cruel treatment imposed on captives during their rendition and subsequent detention, devised the torture instruments and protocols, personally tortured detainees, and trained CIA personnel in administering torture techniques. In a clear conflict of interest later acknowledged by the CIA, the two men were also tasked with evaluating the “effectiveness” of the program from which they reaped enormous profits.
The plaintiffs in the case are Suleiman Abdullah Salim, Mohamed Ahmed Ben Soud, and the estate of the late Gul Rahman, who died as a result of his torture. They are three of 119 victims and survivors of the CIA program named in the Senate torture report. All three were experimented on and tortured in accordance with Mitchell and Jessen’s specifications. All were subjected to severe physical and psychological abuse including prolonged sleep deprivation and nudity, starvation, beating, water dousing, and extreme forms of sensory deprivation – methodically administered with the aim of psychologically breaking their will.
The plaintiffs are suing Mitchell and Jessen under the Alien Tort Statute for their commission of torture; cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment; non-consensual human experimentation; and war crimes.
Legal Documents
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08/17/2017
Judgment -
08/10/2017
Plaintiffs' Response to Defendants' Motions in Limine and Request for Judicial Notice -
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08/10/2017
Declaration of Dror Ladin -
08/10/2017
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08/10/2017
Exhibit B
Declaration of Dror LadinDate Filed: 08/10/2017
Court: District Court (E.D. Wash.)
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08/10/2017
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08/10/2017
Defendants' Response in Opposition to Plaintiffs' Motions In Limine -
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08/10/2017
Declaration of Jeffrey N. Rosenthal -
08/10/2017
Exhibit A
Declaration of Jeffrey N. RosenthalDate Filed: 08/10/2017
Court: District Court (E.D. Wash.)
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08/10/2017
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08/08/2017
Plaintiffs' Proposed Jury Instructions -
08/08/2017
Defendants' Proposed Jury Instructions -
08/07/2017
Memorandum Opinion Re: Motions for Summary Judgment -
08/02/2017
Plaintiffs' Motions in Limine -
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08/02/2017
Declaration of Dan Grady -
08/02/2017
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08/02/2017
Exhibit H
Declaration of Dan GradyDate Filed: 08/02/2017
Court: District Court (E.D. Wash.)
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08/02/2017
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08/02/2017
Defendants' Motions in Limine and Request for Judicial Notice -
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08/02/2017
Declaration of Christopher Tompkins -
08/02/2017
Exhibits
Declaration of Christopher TompkinsDate Filed: 08/02/2017
Court: District Court (E.D. Wash.)
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08/02/2017
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08/02/2017
Stipulated Motion Re Restrictions on Trial Questioning, Evidence and Argument -
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08/02/2017
Proposed Order
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United States' Unopposed Motion for Procedures Governing Trial Testimony of Former Government Officials and Contractors -
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Proposed Order
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Plaintiffs' Exhibit List -
08/01/2017
Defendants' Trial Exhibit List -
07/31/2017
Stipulation to Conduct Trial Deposition of Mohamed Ben Soud -
07/28/2017
Defendants' Opposition to Plaintiffs' Motion to Exclude in Part the Testimony of Roger K. Pitman, M.D. -
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07/28/2017
Declaration of Ariel S. Glasner -
07/28/2017
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07/28/2017
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07/28/2017
Exhibit 3
Declaration of Ariel S. GlasnerDate Filed: 07/28/2017
Court: District Court (E.D. Wash.)
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07/28/2017
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07/28/2017
Plaintiffs' Opposition to Defendants' Motion to Exclude Expert Opinions -
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07/28/2017
Declaration of Kate E. Janukowicz -
07/28/2017
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07/28/2017
Declaration of Dr. Sondra Crosby -
07/28/2017
Exhibit 1
Declaration of Kate E. JanukowiczDate Filed: 07/28/2017
Court: District Court (E.D. Wash.)
Download DocumentDeclaration of Dr. Sondra CrosbyDate Filed: 07/28/2017
Court: District Court (E.D. Wash.)
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07/28/2017
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07/17/2017
Defendants' Reply in Support of Motion to Exclude -
07/14/2017
Defendants' Unopposed Motion to Seal Documents -
07/14/2017
Defendants' Motion to Exclude Expert Opinions -
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07/14/2017
Proposed Order -
07/14/2017
Declaration of Ariel S. Glasner -
07/14/2017
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Exhibit 9
Declaration of Ariel S. GlasnerDate Filed: 07/14/2017
Court: District Court (E.D. Wash.)
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07/14/2017
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07/14/2017
Plaintiffs' Motion to Exclude in Part the Testimony of Robert K. Pitman, M.D. -
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07/14/2017
Proposed Order -
07/14/2017
Declaration of Kate Janukowicz -
07/14/2017
Exhibit A -
07/14/2017
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07/14/2017
Exhibit C
Declaration of Kate JanukowiczDate Filed: 07/14/2017
Court: District Court (E.D. Wash.)
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07/14/2017
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07/10/2017
Plaintiffs' Response to Defendants' Motion to Exclude -
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07/10/2017
Declaration of Lawrence Lustberg -
07/10/2017
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07/10/2017
Declaration of Senator Ron Wyden
Declaration of Lawrence LustbergDate Filed: 07/10/2017
Court: District Court (E.D. Wash.)
Download DocumentDeclaration of Senator Ron WydenDate Filed: 07/10/2017
Court: District Court (E.D. Wash.)
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07/10/2017
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06/26/2017
Declaration of Daniel J. McGrady -
06/26/2017
Plaintiffs' Reply to Defendants' Response to Plaintiffs' Statement of Undisputed Material Facts -
06/26/2017
Plaintiffs' Reply in Support of Motion for Partial Summary Judgment -
06/26/2017
Declaration of Jeffrey N. Rosenthal in Support of Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment -
06/26/2017
Defendants' Reply Statement of Undisputed Facts -
06/26/2017
Defendants' Reply in Support of Motion for Summary Judgment -
06/26/2017
Declaration of Adrien C. Pickard in Support of Defendants' Motion to Exclude -
06/26/2017
Defendants' Motion to Exclude -
06/12/2017
Declaration of Kevin Jon Heller in Support of Plaintiffs' Response to Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment -
06/12/2017
Declaration of Steven Watt in Support of Plaintiffs' Opposition to Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment -
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06/12/2017
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Plaintiffs' Memorandum in Opposition to Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment -
06/12/2017
Plaintiffs' Statement of Facts in Opposition to Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment -
06/12/2017
Defendants' Response to Plaintiffs' Undisputed Statement of Fact -
06/12/2017
Defendants' Response to Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment -
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06/12/2017
Declaration of Brian Paszamant
Declaration of Brian PaszamantDate Filed: 06/12/2017
Court: District Court (E.D. Wash.)
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06/12/2017
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05/31/2017
Order Re: Motion to Take Judicial Notice -
05/31/2017
Order Re: Third and Fourth Motion to Compel and Assertion of States Secrets Privilege -
05/25/2017
Defendants' Reply in Support of Motion to Take Judicial Notice -
05/24/2017
Plaintiffs' Brief in Opposition to Defendants' Motion to Take Judicial Notice -
05/22/2017
Plaintiffs' Motion for Partial Summary Judgment -
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05/22/2017
Proposed Order
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05/22/2017
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05/22/2017
Plaintiffs' Statement of Undisputed Material Facts -
05/22/2017
Declaration of Mohamed Ahmed Ben Soud -
05/22/2017
Declaration of Suleiman Abdullah Salim -
05/22/2017
Declaration of Dror Ladin -
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05/22/2017
Exhibit A -
05/22/2017
Exhibit B -
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Exhibit W -
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Exhibit HH
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Date Filed: 08/10/2017
Court: District Court (E.D. Wash.)
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