Joseph Albert Benkert (born January 17, 1951) [1] is an American naval officer and diplomat who served as an officer in the United States Navy, and as an appointed official in the George W. Bush Administration. He joined the Cohen Group in 2009 after serving as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Security Affairs. [2] Benkert currently serves on the board of International Relief and Development Inc. [3] In October 2018, He joined Morrison & Foerster as a National Security Advisor. [4]
Benkert is notable for testifying before the United States Congress.
Born in Frankfort, Kentucky, Benkert graduated from Franklin County High School in 1969. He earned a B.S. degree from the United States Naval Academy in 1973 and later received a M.P.P. degree from the Kennedy School at Harvard University in 1979. [1]
A career surface warfare officer, Benkert served on active duty from June 1973 to April 2003, retiring as a captain. [1] He commanded the frigate McCloy from August 1987 to July 1989, [5] the cruiser Josephus Daniels from May 1992 to January 1994 [6] and Destroyer Squadrons 22 and 32 from May 1996 to July 1997. [1]
Captain Joseph A. Benkert was named in the lawsuit David Alan Carmichael v. United States. [7] Benkert was Carmichael's commanding officer, and, according to Carmichael's complaint, Benkert's subordinate suppressed written communications intended for Benkert. The failure of the Navy to properly process the religious accommodation request eventually led to the service member's dismissal without proper cause.
In March 2007 Benkert participated in a forum evaluating the problems that plagued American efforts to help reconstruct Iraq. [8]
On September 27, 2006, while serving as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy, Benkert testified before the Senate Committee on Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support. [9] Executive Order 11850, signed in 1975, proscribed the US from using chemical weapons. According to Benkert, it was the position of the Bush Presidency that riot control agents, like tear gas, should not be considered chemical weapons.
In early May 2007 Benkert and two other officials testified before Congress that 30 released Guantanamo captives had returned to the battlefield. [10]
On May 9, 2007, Benkert was quoted on the future of the Guantanamo detainees: [10]
Neither the president nor the secretary has said we're going to close it tomorrow, ... There are no readily available facilities to take these guys,
On April 11, 2007, Benkert was quoted commenting on a facility in southwestern Siberia to destroy American and former Soviet era nerve gas. [11]
Joseph Benkert is married to the former Gail DeVeuve, and together have two children Stephen and Suzanne. [1]
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States of America. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and forms military policy with the Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS), both federal executive departments, acting as the principal organs by which military policy is carried out. All six armed services are among the eight uniformed services of the United States.
The United States secretary of defense (SecDef) is the head of the United States Department of Defense, the executive department of the U.S. Armed Forces, and is a high ranking member of the federal cabinet. The secretary of defense's position of command and authority over the military is second only to that of the president of the United States, who is the commander-in-chief. This position corresponds to what is generally known as a defense minister in many other countries. The secretary of defense is appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate, and is by custom a member of the Cabinet and by law a member of the National Security Council.
The secretary of the Navy is a statutory officer and the head of the Department of the Navy, a military department within the United States Department of Defense.
The National Security Act of 1947 was a law enacting major restructuring of the United States government's military and intelligence agencies following World War II. The majority of the provisions of the act took effect on September 18, 1947, the day after the Senate confirmed James Forrestal as the first secretary of defense.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) is the presiding officer of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). The chairman the highest-ranking and most senior military officer in the United States Armed Forces and the principal military advisor to the president, the National Security Council, the Homeland Security Council, and the secretary of defense. While the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff outranks all other commissioned officers, the chairman is prohibited by law from having operational command authority over the armed forces; however, the chairman does assist the president and the secretary of defense in exercising their command functions.
Geoffrey D. Miller is a retired United States Army major general who commanded the US detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and Iraq. Detention facilities in Iraq under his command included Abu Ghraib prison, Camp Cropper, and Camp Bucca. He is noted for having trained soldiers in using torture, or "enhanced interrogation techniques" in US euphemism, and for carrying out the "First Special Interrogation Plan," signed by the Secretary of Defense, against a Guantanamo detainee.
Fleet admiral is a five-star flag officer rank in the United States Navy whose rewards uniquely include active duty pay for life. Fleet admiral ranks immediately above admiral and is equivalent to General of the Army and General of the Air Force. Although it is a current and authorized rank, no U.S. Navy officer holds it presently, with the first U.S. Navy fleet admiral being William D. Leahy, followed by Ernest King and then Chester W. Nimitz, all promoted in December 1944. The last person to be promoted to the rank was William Halsey Jr. in December 1945. While all four men effectively retired in the late 1940s, the rank of fleet admiral is for life. The last active fleet admiral was Nimitz who lived until 1966, surpassing the other three men who had all died by the end of the 1950s.
The Guantanamo military commissions were established by President George W. Bush – through a Military Order – on November 13, 2001, to try certain non-citizen terrorism suspects at the Guantanamo Bay prison. To date, there have been a total of eight convictions in the military commissions, six through plea agreements with the defendants. Several of the eight convictions have been overturned in whole or in part on appeal, mostly by U.S. federal courts.
John Dudley Hutson is a former United States Navy officer, attorney, and former Judge Advocate General of the Navy. He is the outgoing dean and president of University of New Hampshire School of Law in Concord, New Hampshire, having served in the position since 2000.
The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a United States military prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Guantánamo, GTMO, and Gitmo, on the coast of Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. Of the 780 people detained there since January 2002 when the military prison first opened after the September 11, 2001 attacks, 731 have been transferred elsewhere, 39 remain there, and 9 have died while in custody.
Abdullah Mujahid is a citizen of Afghanistan who is still held in extrajudicial detention after being transferred from United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba — to an Afghan prison.
Harry Binkley Harris Jr. is an retired American diplomat and retired U.S. Navy officer. He was the first American of Japanese descent to lead US Pacific Command in the U.S. Navy and was the highest-ranking American of Japanese descent in the U.S. Navy during his time as commander.
James "Jim" M. McGarrah is the chief of staff at the Georgia Tech Research Institute. He was previously director of the Information and Communications Laboratory at the Georgia Tech Research Institute and is a retired officer of the United States Navy Reserve.
Charles Douglas "Cully" Stimson is an American lawyer and government official. Stimson served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs from 2005 until his resignation on February 2, 2007, following a controversy about his statements on legal representation for prisoners at Guantánamo Bay. Following his time in the George W. Bush administration, Stimson joined The Heritage Foundation, where he is currently a senior legal fellow and manager of the National Security Law Program. Earlier in his career, Stimson served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia and as Vice President for Private Equity Mergers & Acquisitions at Marsh & McLennan Companies.
Executive Order 66 - Renunciation of certain uses in war of chemical herbicides and riot control agents. was signed on April 8, 1975, by United States President Gerald Ford. The executive order restricted the use of herbicides, and riot control agents, including tear gas. Each and every use would require the explicit approval.
Bruce E. MacDonald is a retired United States Navy vice admiral who last served as the 40th Judge Advocate General of the Navy from July 2006 to August 2009. Prior to that, MacDonald served as the Navy's Deputy Judge Advocate General from November 2004 to July 2006. On July 2, 2008, then Rear Admiral MacDonald was nominated for appointment to the grade of vice admiral while serving as the Navy's Judge Advocate General. He was confirmed by the Senate on August 1, 2008 and was promoted to grade on August 4, 2008 becoming the first JAG to be a three-star flag officer.
Eric Kenneth Fanning is an American politician who is the current President and CEO of Aerospace Industries Association and served as the 22nd Secretary of the Army, holding office from May 18, 2016 to January 20, 2017. Prior to his appointment as Secretary of the Army, Fanning was the 24th United States Under Secretary of the Air Force. He was the first openly gay head of any service in the US military.
Carlos Del Toro is a Cuban-American businessman and retired United States Navy officer who serves as the 78th United States Secretary of the Navy since 2021.
Media related to Joseph A. Benkert at Wikimedia Commons