Paul Lewis | |
|---|---|
 Paul Lewis | |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Paul M. Lewis |
| Alma mater | University of Notre Dame (A.B., 1980; J.D., 1983) |
| Occupation(s) | Lawyer, diplomat |
| Known for | Appointed to help close Guantanamo |
Paul Lewis is an American lawyer and diplomat. [1] [2] Lewis served as Marine JAG officer and chief counsel to House Armed Services Committee, before President Obama appointed him as Special Envoy for Guantanamo Bay facility closure.
Lewis earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1980 and his J.D. degree from Notre Dame Law School in 1983. [1] [3]
He rose to the rank of captain, within the Marine Corps, during the five years he served as a JAG officer. He had also served as an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan, and an anti-racketeering prosecutor for the Department of Justice, before holding a series of posts as counsels to Congressional Representatives, or to Congressional committees. Obama had announced the creation of two positions during a speech about Guantanamo at the Defense University in May 2013. [1] [4] [5] [6] William Lietzau, the most recent Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs had resigned in July, without being replaced. Lewis's position was not a direct replacement for the empty DASD-DA position. The other position was that of a special envoy for Guantanamo closure within the State Department. That position had been filled in June, by Clifford Sloan. On October 7, 2013 President Barack Obama appointed Lewis to be United States Department of Defense's Special Envoy for Guantanamo Closure, the most senior Pentagon official tasked with closing the notorious Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. Lewis is currently a law professor at Georgetown University. Carol Rosenberg, writing in the Miami Herald , reported that, at Georgetown Lewis had specialized in teaching legal ethics. [1]
The Hill reported Lewis also had responsibility for finding new homes for the foreigners the USA held in extrajudicial detention in Afghanistan. [6]
Lee Scott Wolosky is an American diplomat and attorney who served under four U.S. presidents in legal and national security positions, most recently as Special Counsel to President Joe Biden. He is currently co-chair of the Litigation Department and a member of the Management Committee at Jenner & Block LLP
Fouad Mahmoud al Rabiah is a Kuwaiti, who was held in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba from May 2002 to December 2009. Al Rabia's Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 551.
Abdul Zahir (عبدالظاهر) is a citizen of Afghanistan currently held in extrajudicial detention in the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. He was the tenth captive, and the first Afghan, to face charges before the first Presidentially authorized Guantanamo military commissions. After the Supreme Court ruled that the President lacked the constitutional authority to set up military commissions, the United States Congress passed the Military Commissions Act of 2006. He was not charged under that system.
The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a United States military prison within the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Gitmo, on the coast of Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. As of March 2022, of the 780 people detained there since January 2002 when the military prison first opened after the September 11 attacks, 741 had been transferred elsewhere, 30 remained there, and 9 had died while in custody.
Faiz Mohammed Ahmed Al Kandari is a Kuwaiti citizen who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States' Guantanamo Bay detainment camp in Cuba, from 2002 to 2016. He has never been charged with war crimes.
Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed Haza al-Darbi is a citizen of Saudi Arabia who was held in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba from August 2002 to May 2018; in May 2018, he was transferred to Saudi Arabia's custody. He was the only detainee held at Guantanamo released during President Donald Trump's administration.
Daniel Fried is an American diplomat, who served as assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs from 2005 to 2009 and United States ambassador to Poland from 1997 to 2000. He also served as special envoy for Guantanamo closure and co-ordinator for United States embargoes. Fried retired from the State Department in February 2017 after forty years of service.
Clifford Sloan is an attorney and American diplomat who served as Special Envoy for Guantanamo Closure at the United States Department of State. Sloan is currently a Dean's Visiting Scholar at Georgetown University Law Center and retired partner for Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates. Previously, Sloan was the publisher of Slate magazine.
Salem Ahmed Hadi Bin Kanad is a citizen of Yemen, who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. His detainee ID number is 131. Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts reports that Hadi was born on January 15, 1976, in Hadhramaut, Yemen.
Tarek Ali Abdullah Ahmed Baada is a citizen of Yemen, who was formerly held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. His detainee ID number is 178. Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts estimated that Baada was born in 1978 in Shebwa, Yemen.
William James "Jim" Haynes II is an American lawyer and was General Counsel of the Department of Defense during much of 43rd President George W. Bush's administration and his war on terror. Haynes resigned as general counsel effective March 2008.
The Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs (DASD-DA) is a political appointment created by United States President George W. Bush. The appointee has responsibility for captives apprehended during the "war on terror". The New York Times described one appointee as: "a primary adviser to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on detainee matters and his point man for dealing with foreign governments and international organizations on the issue."
Phillip Eugene Carter is an American lawyer, writer, and former officer in the United States Army. Carter was a founding member of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, and he also served as a principal of the Truman National Security Project. He was senior fellow and counsel at the Center for a New American Security, and director of the CNAS research program on the Military, Veterans & Society. Beginning September 2018, he served as the Director of the Personnel & Resources Program at the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center in Washington, D.C. Carter now works as senior director, corporate counsel for Salesforce, supporting the company’s public sector businesses, and teaches as an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center.
Muhammed Murdi Issa Al Zahrani is a citizen of Saudi Arabia who was held in the United States's Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba from August 5, 2002, until November 22, 2014. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number is 713. Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts estimate he was born in 1969, in Taif, Saudi Arabia.
In late 2008, the Department of Defense published a list of the Guantanamo captives who died in custody, were freed, or were repatriated to the custody of another country. The list was drafted on October 8, 2008, and was published on November 26, 2008. Subsequently almost two hundred more captives have been released or transferred, and several more have died in custody.
William K. Lietzau is an American lawyer, former U.S. Marine Corps Judge Advocate, and the current Director of the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency.
Abdel Malik Ahmed Abdel Wahab Al Rahabi is a citizen of Yemen who was held in extrajudicial detention by the United States from December 2001 to June 22, 2016. He was one of the first twenty captives transferred to the Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba, on January 11, 2002, and was held there until he was transferred to Montenegro, which granted him political asylum.
Paul Lewis will fill the job that has been vacant since President Barack Obama created it in May, the Pentagon said Tuesday — a day after the Miami Herald reported on the appointment. Lewis, the minority counsel for the House Armed Services Committee, will work for Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel exclusively on closing Guantánamo and transferring foreign prisoners from Afghanistan as a counterpart to State Department envoy Clifford Sloan's work for Secretary of State John Kerry.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel today announced the appointment of Paul M. Lewis to the position of Special Envoy for Guantanamo closure. This announcement reflects the Department's commitment to implementing the President's directive to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.
Mr. Lewis joins Cliff Sloan, who was appointed in June to be the State Department's envoy. The appointment of Mr. Lewis, who had worked in the office of the Pentagon general counsel earlier in the Obama administration, is part of a larger turnover of staff on detention issues. In July, William Lietzau, who had been the Pentagon's top policy official on detainee matters, announced that he was stepping down to take a private sector job.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)The job is a new one for the Pentagon, complementing a similar position at the State Department. President Obama announced its creation in May during a major national security speech in which he recommitted himself to his thwarted goal of shuttering Guántanamo.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)The president has renewed his efforts this year, and Lewis will be filling a vacant position created by Obama four months ago. Lewis will be tasked with facilitating transfers out of Guantánamo, as well as overseeing the transfer of detainees held by the United States in Afghanistan.