The Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs (DASD-DA) is a political appointment created by

United States President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

. The appointee has responsibility for captives apprehended during the "

war on terror The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campaign are militant ...

". ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' described one appointee as: "a primary adviser to

Defense Secretary The United States secretary of defense (SecDef) is the head of the United States Department of Defense, the executive department of the U.S. Armed Forces, and is a high ranking member of the federal cabinet. DoDD 5100.1: Enclosure 2: a The ...

Donald H. Rumsfeld Donald Henry Rumsfeld (July 9, 1932 – June 29, 2021) was an American politician, government official and businessman who served as Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 under president Gerald Ford, and again from 2001 to 2006 under Preside ...

on detainee matters and his point man for dealing with foreign governments and international organizations on the issue." Matthew Waxman was the first to hold this position. He was followed by Charles "Cully" Stimson, who resigned in February 2007 following controversial comments about lawyers representing detainees. Career State Department lawyer Sandra Hodgkinson held the position from 2007–2009. ''The Washington Post'' reported in February 2009 that Phillip E. Carter was slated to be the new Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for

Detainee Detention is the process whereby a state or private citizen lawfully holds a person by removing their freedom or liberty at that time. This can be due to (pending) criminal charges preferred against the individual pursuant to a prosecution or t ...

Affairs, following speculation on Pentagon blogs about his appointment. The

Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philipp ...

has published 179 Guantanamo documents dossiers prepared from the unclassified documents prepared for captives 2004

Combatant Status Review Tribunal The Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRT) were a set of tribunals for confirming whether detainees held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp had been correctly designated as "enemy combatants". The CSRTs were estab ...

s. Documents from the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs routinely lead the documents that the Tribunals considered as evidence justifying the

Guantanamo captive The Guantanamo Bay detention camp ( es, Centro de detención de la bahía de Guantánamo) is a United States military prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Guantánamo, GTMO, and Gitmo (), on the coast of Guant ...

s continued

extrajudicial detention Administrative detention is arrest and detention of individuals by the state without trial. A number of jurisdictions claim that it is done for security reasons. Many countries claim to use administrative detention as a means to combat terrorism ...

. On February 16, 2010 William K. Lietzau was appointed as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Policy. By October 2011 he had taken on responsibility for the department's Rule of Law and Humanitarian Policy portfolio, and held the title "Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for rule of law and detainee policy".

References

{{Reflist United States Department of Defense officials