WASHINGTON  When Central Intelligence Agency interrogators used waterboarding and other harsh techniques on Qaeda suspects, agency rules required detailed records of each method used, its duration and the names of everyone present, according to one of three heavily redacted government documents made public on Thursday.

The documents, obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, add details to the picture of the exchanges between the C.I.A. and the Justice Department over the legal status of the C.I.A.’s methods. For decades before 2002, the United States had considered several of the methods to be illegal torture.

The rule requiring interrogation logs is from a three-page memorandum signed on Jan. 28, 2003, by George J. Tenet, then the C.I.A. director, that appears to lay out rules for harsh interrogations. A one-page attachment has a space for C.I.A. officers in the program to sign, stating, “I have read and understand and will comply with” the rules.

The document says that “unless otherwise approved by headquarters,” C.I.A. officers “may use only Permissible Interrogation Techniques,” which include “(a) Standard Techniques and (b) Enhanced Techniques.”