Assisting Military Officer

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One of the official positions that the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants appointed to conduct Administrative Review Boards was the Assisting Military Officer.[1][2]

Like the Combatant Status Review Tribunals the Administrative Review Boards are "administrative" procedures, not "judicial" procedures. Captives are told the Tribunals and Boards are not sentencing them to punishment, merely deciding whether the USA continues to have a reason to hold them in extrajudicial detention. So they are not entitled to legal representation.

The Assisting Military Officer is responsible for meeting with the captive, prior to the Board hearing. At this meeting they were to:

  • explain the nature of the Board to the captive, and how it differed from the Combatant Status Review Tribunal;
  • try to learn the captive's responses to the factors, so they could aid in presenting this information to the board;
  • learn whether the captive wanted to participate in the hearing;
  • learn whether the captive wanted to submit a written reply to the factors;
  • learn whether the captive wanted to responde to factors, one at a time, when they were read aloud;
  • fill out an Enemy Combatant election form.

At the unclassified session of the Board the Assisting Military Officer gave a report of the information they recorded on the Enemy Combatant election form, including the date(s) they met, the length of time they met, and the captive' demeanor, during their meetings.

Sometimes the Assisting Military Officer presented the captive's responses, from his notes, in lieu of the captive. Sometimes they had further questions for the captive.

References

  1. Kathleen T. Rhem (March 30, 2005). "Hearings Determine Detainees' Threat Status". American Forces Press Service. http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=31061. Retrieved 2007-09-01. 
  2. Paul Wolfowitz (May 11 2004). "Administrative Review Procedures for Enemy Combatants in the Control of the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba". http://www.defenselink.mil/news/May2004/d20040518gtmoreview.pdf. Retrieved 2007-09-01. 

External links