Eric Kaniut

Captain Eric G. Kaniut of the United States Navy served as the supervising[1] officer over the 2005 OARDEC board, and the Administrative Review Boards convened for each detainee, at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.[2][3]

Capt. Eric G. Kaniut

His 1994 Masters Thesis at the Naval Postgraduate School was entitled United Nations Reform: The Need for Legitimacy[4]

He has been awarded two Defense Meritorious Service Medals, a Meritorious Service Medal, three Navy Commendation Medals and two Navy Achievement Medals.[5]

Guantanamo

Initially the Bush Administration had ruled that the Department of Defense was not obliged to provide any opportunity for the Guantanamo captives to learn, and attempt to refute, the allegations used to justify their continued extrajudicial detention.

One of the effects of the United States Supreme Court's ruling in Rasul v. Bush was that the DoD had to provide an opportunity for the captives to learn and respond to the allegations against them. The one-time Combatant Status Review Tribunals and the Administrative Review Boards were the "administrative procedures" the DoD designed to fulfill the Supreme Court's requirement.

According to the International Herald Tribune Kaniut asserted:

  • "The bottom line we look at is whether they are a threat to the U.S."
  • "...are just like a parole board"
Eric Kaniut (in yellow) works out with other officers at Camp Whidbey.
Commander Eric Kaniut, commanding officer of Navy Recruiting District Jacksonville welcomes Delayed Entry Program Sailors to the Family Day Expo. Photo by PH3(AW) Elizabeth Williams

One critic responded to Kaniut's description that the Tribunals and Boards were "just like a parole board" by asking.[6]

"So the detainees, not having been convicted of anything, are facing a parole board: a scenario worthy of Kafka."

According to The New Republic, Kaniut asserted that the protections these procedures provided were "unprecedented".[7]

More than half the captives declined to attend their Administrative Review Board hearings. When asked to explain the lack of participation Kaniut attributed it to the captive's cynicism.[8]

In a profile in The Wire Kaniut said:

“OARDEC was established about a year ago by the Secretary of Defense, who at that time, determined that there needs to be a review process for all the detainees at Guantanamo to determine which ones here still constitute a threat.”
...
“This is a tribute to America, JTF, and our country as a whole, that we even consider doing this.”

References
  1. Neil A. Lewis (March 25, 2005). "Case reviews designed to cut Guantánamo population". International Herald Tribune. Retrieved 2007-07-15.
  2. Spc. Jeshua Nace (2005-06-10). "Annual review boards continue: OARDEC teams review detainee status" (PDF). 6 (10). The Wire (JTF-GTMO). p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-05-25. Retrieved 2008-02-23.
  3. Letta Tayler (June 17, 2005). "Inside a Gitmo review: A Saudi detainee faces military panel, without seeing a lawyer or evidence, that decides his fate". Newsday. Retrieved 2007-07-15.
  4. Storming Media: Pentagon Reports, Fast, Definitive, Complete.
  5. CPR: Wing Ten Biography Archived 2007-07-26 at the Wayback Machine
  6. Steven Girshick (March 25, 2005). "Kafka at Guantánamo". Letters to the Editor of The New York Times.
  7. Spencer Ackerman (August 22, 2005). "Why the Bush administration defends Guantanamo: Island Mentality". The New Republic. Archived from the original on September 3, 2005. Retrieved 2007-07-15.
  8. Carol Rosenberg (March 24, 2005). "Guantanamo detainee gets hearing in rare glimpse of review process". St. Augustine Record. Retrieved 2007-07-15.
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