Brian L. Mizer is a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

JAG officer. He is from the State of

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

. He attended Creighton University in

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest city ...

, Nebraska, for his undergraduate degree and

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Reser ...

for his

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

. He is notable for serving as one of the chief defense counsel for

Salim Ahmed Hamdan Salim Ahmed Hamdan () (born February 25, 1968) is a Yemeni man, captured during the invasion of Afghanistan, declared by the United States government to be an illegal enemy combatant and held as a detainee at Guantanamo Bay from 2002 to November ...

, a former driver of

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...

, when he faced charges before a

Guantánamo military commission ThGuantanamo military commissionswere established by President George W. Bush – through a Military Order – on November 13, 2001, to try certain non-citizen terrorism suspects at the Guantanamo Bay prison. To date, there have been a total of e ...

. On 23 April 2008 attorneys working on behalf of

requested permission to meet with Abdulmalik Mohammed and Mustafa al-Hawsawi. Hamdan's attorneys had previously requested permission to get the "

high-value detainees Extrajudicial prisoners of the United States, in the context of the early twenty-first century War on Terrorism, refers to foreign nationals the United States detains outside of the legal process required within United States legal jurisdiction. ...

" to answer written questions, which would confirm whether Hamdan played a role in al Qaeda, and, if so, if it had been a peripheral one. Abdulmalik Mohammed and Mustafa al-Hawsawi declined to answer the questions, because they said they had no way to know that the questions purporting to be from Hamdan's attorneys was not a ruse.

Andrea J. Prasow Andrea J. Prasow is an American attorney and global human rights advocate. She leads The Freedom Initiative, a U.S.-based organization whose mission is "to bring international attention to the plight of political prisoners in the Middle East and ...

requested permission for Lieutenant Commander Brian Mizer to meet in person with the two men to try to assure them that the questions were not a ruse, and would not be shared with their interrogators. Hamdan was convicted in August 2008. His Presiding Officer's decision that he should be credited with the time he had already served, left him with a scheduled release date of December 31, 2008—just over four months later. Chief Prosecutor

Lawrence Morris Attorney Lawrence J. Morris is the chief of staff and counselor to the president at The Catholic University of America and a retired United States Army colonel. Academic career Morris graduated from Marquette University's law school in 1982 ...

filed an appeal, asserting that Presiding Officers didn't have the authority to credit time served. ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' quoted Mizer's response: ''"I really am at a loss for words. The government, having stacked the deck, is now complaining about the hand it was dealt."'' In November 2008 ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...

'' quoted Mizer explaining why the use of torture would complicate the prosecution of other suspects. : Mizer told reporters that he was surprised to learn that Hamdan had been transferred to Yemen on 1 December 2008, calling it "welcome news". In the fall of 2008 chief prosecutor Colonel Morris Davis resigned after a conflict of authority with

Brigadier General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

Thomas W. Hartmann. Davis felt that Hartmann had inappropriately usurped his own role in designating which captives should face charges, when Hartmann's role as Legal Advisor to the

Convening Authority The term convening authority is used in United States military law to refer to an individual with certain legal powers granted under either the Uniform Code of Military Justice (i.e. the regular military justice system) or the Military Commissions ...

for the Guantánamo Military Commissions required neutrality. Davis became a critic of the operation of the Military Commission system, and on December 8, 2008, ''The New York Times'' reported that Mizer planned to call upon Davis to testify on undue command influence in Hamdan's case. In early January 2009 the

Office of Military Commissions ThGuantanamo military commissionswere established by President George W. Bush – through a Military Order – on November 13, 2001, to try certain non-citizen terrorism suspects at the Guantanamo Bay prison. To date, there have been a total of e ...

dismissed all charges against all the suspects, with plans to re-initiate those charges later. Commentators described the state of the cases against the captives as "chaotic". According to

Peter Finn Peter Thomas Finn (1827/1828 – 1 April 1911) was a barrister in Victoria, Australia and Invercargill, New Zealand. For a short time, he was a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for the electorate of Avoca. Biography Finn was born ...

, reporting in ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', Mizer greeted the news with disbelief, stating: ''"This is military justice 101."'' When President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

ordered the closure of Guantánamo base on January 22, 2009 Mizer commented: :

Media appearances

Mizer was one of the individuals who appeared in

Laura Poitras Laura Poitras (; born February 2, 1964) is an American director and producer of documentary films. Poitras has received numerous awards for her work, including the 2015 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for ''Citizenfour'', about Edwa ...

2010 documentary film ''The Oath''. A ''

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 ...

'' review of the film described Mizer as a ''"compelling figure"''. Mizer appeared in

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

interviews on multiple occasions.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mizer, Brian L. Guantanamo Bay attorneys Living people Year of birth missing (living people)