Frank Sweigart

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Frank Sweigart

Sweigart presents an award to subordinate Jim Thew
Nationality USA
Occupation Naval officer, pilot
Known for Director of OARDEC

Frank Sweigart is a former officer in the United States Navy, retiring in 2004.[1] He was then appointed the Deputy Director of the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants (OARDEC), having the responsibility to oversee the operation of the Guantanamo Bay detention camps' the annual Administrative Review Board and Combatant Status Review Tribunals.[1][2]

Sweigart graduated from the Navy's service academy, Annapolis, in 1974.[3] The Navy trained Sweigart as an aviator.

Career

Sweigart was an officer in the United States Navy, retiring in 2004 with the rank of Captain.

Several authors have quoted Sweigart describing attacking Iraqi troops during the 1991 Gulf War as "basically just sitting ducks".[4] Joseph Burrell, in "Work is for the People", asserted that these troops were fleeing, and that when United States President George Herbert Walker Bush declared the fleeing Iraqi toops would be "given no quarter", he was violating both the Hague Convention and the Geneva Conventions.

In 1997 he commanded Naval Air Station Atsugi, where he reassured his staff and their families that a large incinerator on the station did not represent a health risk.[5] In 2009 the Salem News reported hundreds of people who lived or worked on the station, during his tenure had come down with long term health problems they attributed to the toxic effluent of the incinerator.

He was appointed the role of Deputy Director of the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants (OARDEC),[1] He was subsequently promoted to replace his boss Admiral James M. McGarrah.

Director of OARDEC has the responsibility to oversee the operation of the annual Administrative Review Board hearings for approximately 250 captives the United States holds in extrajudicial detention in it Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.[2] The director also has the responsibility to oversee Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRT) for any newly arrived captives. The procedures of both the Review Tribunals and Review Board hearings were modeled after the procedures laid out in Army Regulation 190-8 for determining if a captive was entitled to the protections of prisoner of war status. The OARDEC procedures, however, have more limited mandates. CSRTs determining if captives meet term "enemy combatant" and Administrative Review Boards determining if captives continue to represent a threat to the USA, or hold any intelligence value.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Captain Frank Sweigart". United Stated Department of Defense. Archived from the original on 2014-01-30. http://www.defenselink.mil/news/sweigart_bio.pdf. Retrieved 2007-09-30. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 Tim Golden (2006-12-30). "For Guantánamo Review Boards, Limits Abound". New York Times. Archived from the original on 2015-11-19. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/31/us/31gitmo.html?pagewanted=all. "“We are always looking for supporting facts, and if we can’t find them, we ask for them,” Mr. Sweigart, a retired Navy captain, said in an interview. “There really is a lot of information out there for a number of them — especially for the detainees who are there today.”" 
  3. Steven T. Wax (2010). Kafka Comes to America: Fighting for Justice in the War on Terror. Other Press, LLC. ISBN 9781590514559. https://books.google.ca/books?id=DCY-WVvjZ-QC&pg=PT379&dq=%22Frank+Sweigart%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CBwQ6AEwAGoVChMIuoThwsSdyQIVA10eCh0u1QIO#v=onepage&q=%22Frank%20Sweigart%22&f=false. Retrieved 2015-11-19. 
  4. Joseph Burrell (2011). Work Is for the People: A Treatise on the -Isms. Algora Publishing. ISBN 9780875868639. https://books.google.ca/books?id=SRC-jSxZmz0C&pg=PA187&dq=%22Frank+Sweigart%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCIQ6AEwAWoVChMIuoThwsSdyQIVA10eCh0u1QIO#v=onepage&q=%22Frank%20Sweigart%22&f=false. Retrieved 2015-11-19. 
  5. Robert O'Dowd (2009-07-04). "Marine Spouse Battles Navy Over Contamination at Naval Base in Japan". Salem News. Archived from the original on 2015-11-19. http://www.salem-news.com/articles/july042009/atsugi_naf_ro_7-4-09.php. "Parulis points to a quote by Captain Frank Sweigart, Commander, NAF Atsugi, in the base newspaper on October 2, 1997 as an example of the Navy’s PR campaign to dismiss any possibility of exposure to toxic chemicals, Captain Frank Sweigart, Commander, NAF Atsugi, stated in the base newspaper: “Unfortunately we don’t have anything in writing that says Jinkanpo is a serious health risk! All we have is a 94-95 study that shows the waste by products do not meet U.S Environmental Protection Agency standards. It would not be justifiable grounds for transfer”." 


Frank Sweigart is a former officer in the United States Navy.

Sweigart retired from the Navy in 2004, with the rank of Captain, and was appointed the Deputy Director of the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants (OARDEC),[1] He was subsequently promoted to replace his boss Admiral James McGarrah.

As Director of OARDEC Sweigart is notable for having the responsibility to oversee the operation of the annual Administrative Review Board hearings for approximately 250 captives the United States holds in extrajudicial detention in it Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. He also has the responsibility to oversee Combatant Status Review Tribunals for any newly arrived captives.

The Combatant Status Review Tribunals and Administrative Review Board hearings are new procedures whose structure and operation are modeled after the procedures laid out in Army Regulation 190-8 for determining if a captive was entitled to the protections of Prisoner of War status. The OARDEC procedures however have more limited mandates.

Controversially, the Bush Presidency asserts that the USA is not obliged to honor captives apprehended in Afghanistan with the protections of the Geneva Conventions.

Combatant Status Review Tribunals determine if captives meet a new definition -- that of "enemy combatant".

Administrative Review Boards determine if captives continue to represent a threat to the USA, or hold any intelligence value.

Five new captives arrived in Guantanamo in 2007, who have not yet had their "enemy combatant" status reviewed.

References

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