6/19 Motions Session #2: Another Day, Another Admiral
Talk turns, to no one’s surprise, to the so-called “baseline review”---the 2011 inquiry into contraband and communications policies that allegedly impinged upon detainees’ interactions with their lawyers.
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Talk turns, to no one’s surprise, to the so-called “baseline review”---the 2011 inquiry into contraband and communications policies that allegedly impinged upon detainees’ interactions with their lawyers. Woods expected an increase in the volume of legal mail at the time, given the anticipated commission proceedings. The idea of the review was, the witness says, some controlled material hadn’t been properly marked; his guard force couldn’t readily identify some items as legal. Woods was aware of his predecessor’s suggestion of a team to review privileged communications. He also had discussed the requirement of a review during his transition to command at JTF-GTMO; Woods knew of a draft protective order regarding communications, for example. Woods equally was aware of the privilege review process then in place for habeas proceedings.
Connell refers the witness to various policy documents regarding the baseline review. These were shared with Admiral MacDonald, then the Convening Authority. And, Woods acknowledges, the documents don’t exactly define “legal materials”---the stuff subject to special protection---though the witness thinks his guards would have received training on what qualified as such materials. The Staff Judge Advocate conducted the training, Woods adds.
Did Admiral MacDonald contact Woods to express concerns about the baseline review? No. Did he express concerns over legal mail? Woods can’t remember, save only a chat, in January 2012, about the commission privilege review team’s constitution. During that, Woods thinks, MacDonald didn’t raise any specific questions about legal mail handling, even though there was always an opportunity to bring up issues that weren’t formally on the agenda in regular VTC meetings with DoD officials. When asked, Woods testifies that he also wasn’t personally contacted by members of MacDonald’s staff, with respect to legal mail or otherwise.
Now to the “revision memorandum,” that is, Woods’s order of December 2011, regarding updated screenings of privileged communications. He remembers issuing it, and assumes that, as Connell suggests, the document was issued as a consequence of Judge Pohl’s bench order in Al-Nashiri.
The screen, however, cannot display the document to MacDonald, who has joined or proceedings virtually. The technical problem prompts a brief recess.-final.png?sfvrsn=b70826ae_3)
