What the New York Times released, the stolen property of the U.S. government, are the JTF Guantanamo Joint Intelligence Group Detainee Assessment Branch DAB Assessments. They were organizational assessments and should not be construed as the exclusive Department of Defense or U.S. government determination regarding specific detainees, but within a continuous broader framework of conscientious assessment and review.
The damage through this unauthorized disclosure, of course, is the potential exposure of sources and methods; potential risk of exposure of U.S. personnel; and the negative impact on detainees who provided information, as well as the effect on future sources of intelligence, because the perception will be that the United States cannot protect its sources of information. There is no upside for anyone, interrogee or cooperative source, if the end result is being exposed before the population of the planet on the Internet. There is certainly no upside for the American public, nor for the children, fathers, husbands, and wives serving in hostilities in faraway lands.
As to the content of the assessments, I was directly and personally responsible for the JTF Guantanamo process, I oversaw, reviewed, and approved each assessment which subsequently became the JTF commander’s recommendation. I am proud of the process, and notwithstanding detractors, am confident that a reasonable person would conclude the assessments were accomplished in a professional, deliberate, thoughtful, and conscientious manner, with regard only to determining whether or not an individual posed and continued to pose a threat to U.S. military personnel, citizens, and interests.
Discerning readers should clearly understand that the unauthorized disclosure of this material in no way declassifies it, or alters the underlying rational that disclosure of such material may be harmful to U.S. personnel and interests. Further, it should be clearly understood that the material released through unauthorized disclosure does not reflect the full body of information available to our military intelligence analysts that may have contributed to findings in individual assessments.
Paul Rester is former director of the Joint Intelligence Group, Guantanamo Bay. The opinions expressed are those of the author.
print this page
When are you going to write THE BOOK, Paul?
Well said, Paul. You were the right man for the job.
Hayes