Detainee Defense Counsel Files Complaint Over Woods Correspondence Order
There apparently hasn't been any press about this yet, but there's a new lawsuit filed over Rear Admiral David Woods' order last year requiring all attorney-client communications at Guantanamo to be reviewed before they are delivered to the detainee. We've posted before about the earlier case raising this issue, that brought by Mustafa Ahmed Al Hawsawi, in the D.C.
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There apparently hasn't been any press about this yet, but there's a new lawsuit filed over Rear Admiral David Woods' order last year requiring all attorney-client communications at Guantanamo to be reviewed before they are delivered to the detainee. We've posted before about the earlier case raising this issue, that brought by Mustafa Ahmed Al Hawsawi, in the D.C. Circuit--and Ben and Ritika wrote about the arguments over the Woods order in the Nashiri military commission.
But the latest is that a trial attorney from the Office of Chief Defense Counsel who is counsel for Ammar Al Baluchi, James G. Connell, III, has brought a new suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the Commander of Joint Task Force-GTMO and another person whose name has been redacted [UPDATE: this was incorrect- the redacted text was regarding service of process, not another defendant]. It alleges violations of the First, Fourth and Fifth Amendments, the Military Commission Act of 2009, and Executive Order 12,333 and asks for declaratory and injunctive relief from the Woods order (Al Hawsawi's complaint alleged violations of the First and Sixth Amendments and the MCA). Connell alleges violations of the attorney-client relationship, censorship, unreasonable search and seizure, and intelligence monitoring of a U.S. person.
While Al Baluchi has had charges sworn against him to the Convening Authority, the Convening Authority hasn't yet referred the charges to a military commission.
Read the complaint here and see the exhibits here. We'll continue to track this case as it develops.
Raffaela Wakeman is a Senior Director at In-Q-Tel. She started her career at the Brookings Institution, where she spent five years conducting research on national security, election reform, and Congress. During this time she was also the Associate Editor of Lawfare. From there, Raffaela practiced law at the U.S. Department of Defense for four years, advising her clients on privacy and surveillance law, cybersecurity, and foreign liaison relationships. She departed DoD in 2019 to join the Majority Staff of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, where she oversaw the Intelligence Community’s science and technology portfolios, cybersecurity, and surveillance activities. She left HPSCI in May 2021 to join IQT.
Raffaela received her BS and MS in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2009 and her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 2015, where she was recognized for her commitment to public service with the Joyce Chiang Memorial Award. While at the Department of Defense, she was the inaugural recipient of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s General Counsel Award for exhibiting the highest standards of leadership, professional conduct, and integrity.
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