Thomas W. Hartmann

Brigadier General, Thomas W. Hartmann, USAFR

Brigadier General Thomas W. Hartmann tours Guantanamo.

Thomas W. Hartmann is an American lawyer and officer in the United States Air Force Reserve. In July 2007 Brigadier General Hartmann was appointed the Legal Adviser to the Convening Authority in the Department of Defense Office of Military Commissions.^{[1] [2]} After military judges barred him from further involvement in three separate trials, on September 20, 2008 Hartmann was transferred to a new position at Guantanamo as director of operations, planning and development. Hartmann reports to Susan Crawford, a retired judge, who is the Convening Authority.

Dispute with senior Guantanamo Prosecutor

Colonel Morris Davis, the Guantanamo military commission's senior prosecutor complained that Hartmann was overstepping his authority.^[1] He has issued a statement where he wrote:

"...for the good of the process.... If he believes in military commissions as strongly as I do then let's do the right thing and both of us walk away before we do more harm."

The Wall Street Journal reported that Davis and Hartmann had clashed over which captives should face charges.^[1] Its report states that Davis had refused to charge any more captives until the dispute was resolved. Its report also stated that William J. Haynes, II, the Pentagon's Chief Counsel, had assigned the chief judge of the Army Court of Criminal Appeals, Brigadier General Butch Tate to conduct an inquiry into the dispute. Tate's report backed Hartmann.

The Wall Street Journal speculated as to two areas the two officers' dispute could be focussed around^[1]:

• the possibility of plea bargain negotiations with Salim Ahmed Hamdan, one of Osama bin Laden's drivers;
• Davis's preference to confine his charges to captives for whom there was unclassified evidence, so the trials could be open to the Press.

On Thursday November 8, 2007, before Guantanamo captive Omar Khadr's military commission, his military defense counsel, Lieutenant Commander William Keubler revealed that he had been informed just two days earlier about an eyewitness whose testimony could help clear Khadr.^[3] Major Jeff Groharing told reporters, in the courtroom, that Hartmann had ordered him not to talk about the case.

According to Jennifer Daskal, an attorney at Human Rights Watch^[4]:

“It is totally outrageous that the prosecution would try to push ahead with a hearing on whether or not Khadr was an unlawful enemy combatant, while all the time withholding from the defence potentially exculpatory information. Anyone who has ever gone to law school knows the fundamental legal and ethical rule: The prosecution cannot withhold exculpatory information from the defence.”

Disqualified from participation

Wikisource has original text related to this article: United States vs. Mohammed Jawad -- deposition of Patrick M. McCarthy

Captain Keith Allred, the Presiding Officer of Salim Ahmed Hamdan's Military Commission, disqualified Hartmann from participating in Hamdan's prosecution.^[5][6][7][8] He ordered that Hartmann be replaced. In a pre-trial hearing for Mohammed Jawad, Hartmann defended his "intense and direct" management style.^[9]

On August 14, 2008 Colonel Stephen Henley barred Hartmann from future participation in Mohammed Jawad's commission.^[10][11] Henley had arranged for depositions to be taken from other officers at Guantanamo, including US Navy Captain Patrick M. McCarthy, who testified that Hartmann had personally berated him.^[12][13] The Associated Press reported that Jawad's attorney David Frakt was authorized to submit arguments directly to Susan J. Crawford, the Convening Authority, as to whether charges against Jawad were justified.

Jawad's lawyer David Frakt and chief prosecutor Lawrence Morris both told reporters they anticipated that Hartmann's role in other Guantanamo commissions would be challenged. Morris stated, "We are going to have to address those in court."^[10]

The Associated Press reported that, in his testimony on August 13, 2008, Hartmann testified that he would not resign over his behavior because he believed he was doing his job properly.^[10]

In his August 14, 2008 ruling Henley wrote^[11]:

"...a Legal Advisor's post trial responsibilies necessitate he act in a quasi-judicial role; one where he must remain neutral and unbiased. The Commission finds the current Legal Advisor's editorial writings and interviews defending the military commissions' system combined with his active and vocal support of and desire to manage the military commissions process and public statements appearing to directly align himself with the prosecution team have compromised the objectivity necessary to dispassionately and fairly evaluate the evidence and prepare the post trial recommendation."

Henley also noted that one of Hartmann's responsibilites was to review and summarize for the Convening Authority pre-trial arguments from the Defense.^[11] Jawad's Defense had filed pre-trial arguments, which Hartmann reviewed, and which he failed to forward and summarize for the Convening Authority. Henley noted that Hartmann failed to explain why he failed to forward or summarize the Defenses arguments for the Convening Authority.

Henley anticipated that Hartmann's failures to perform his duties during the pre-trial period would be arguments the Defense would want to submit to the Convening Authority during the post-trial period. He stated a new Legal Advisor, one not associated with Hartmann's judgment calls, would have to advise the Convening Authority on how to address Hartmann's actions.

In testimony at a pre-trial hearing for Jawad on August 20, 2008 US Army Brigadier General Gregory Zanetti, deputy prison camps commander at Guantanamo, described Hartmann as, "abusive, bullying and unprofessional. . . pretty much across the board."^[8]

On Thursday September 4, 2008 Colonel Patrick Parrish barred Hartmann, from participating in Omar Khadr's Tribunal because of his "undue command influence".^[14] Khadr's Tribunal is the third that Hartmann has been barred from participating in.

On September 19, 2008 Hartmann was removed from his position as legal advisor and transferred to a position as director of operations, planning and development for the military commissions.^[15] Hartmann was replaced by his deputy Michael Chapman, who had been the deputy Legal Advisor since April 2005.

Hartmann attributed his removal, and appointment to the new position, to the: "explosive growth of the commissions over the last 10 or 12 months."^[15]

On August 24, 2009, Carol Rosenberg, writing in the Miami Herald wrote about Jawad's case that: "His case gained prominence when the Pentagon's legal advisor for military commissions, Air Force Brig. General Thomas Hartmann, found his file among those being considered for war crimes prosecution and propelled it to the top of the pile, in part because there were victims who could testify -- former, wounded reserve soldiers back in California."^[16]

Retirement request

On 2 November 2008 Carol Rosenberg, writing in the Miami Herald, reported that Hartmann had filed a request to retire from the Air Force on 17 February 2008.^[17] Hartmann's boss at the Pentagon, William J. Haynes, had resigned in February.^[18]

Obama briefing

William Glaberson, writing in the New York Times reported that Hartmann had been rehearsing a briefing he hoped to make to incoming President Barack Obama aides.^[19] According to Glaberson Hartmann declined to respond to the reports of his briefing rehearsals, but he did issue a statement:

“The Office of Military Commissions stands ready to support any and all of President-elect Obama’s transition team requests.”

References

External links

• "Director of Operations, Planning and Development for Military Commissions" (PDF). Department of Defense. http://media.miamiherald.com/smedia/2008/10/13/15/hartmannjob.source.prod_affiliate.56.pdf. Retrieved 2008-09-28.  mirror

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