The Missing Memos

The Bush administration’s controversial policies on detentions, interrogations and warrantless wiretapping were underpinned by legal memoranda. While some of those memos have been released (primarily as a result of ACLU lawsuits), the former administration kept far more memos secret than has been previously understood. At least three dozen by our count.

The decision to release them now lies with President Obama. To help inform the debate—and inject an extra dose of accountability—we’re posting the first comprehensive list of the secret memos. (The ACLU first compiled a list, which ProPublica verified and expanded on.) 

Note: Our list is quite inclusive, but we have chosen to leave off some documents, such as early drafts of later memos.  

Click on the headline of each entry to see more information. Or mouse over the timeline and click on a box to jump to the corresponding entry. We’ll update the list if and when more memos are released.

Read about the authors behind the memos.

Check out our latest coverage on the memos.