Guantánamo Reports

Overview

Since 2006, Seton Hall Law’s Center for Policy and Research has produced an extensive body of research on Guantánamo Bay and U.S. detention and national security policy. Drawing principally on government records, including more than 100,000 pages obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, the Center’s Guantánamo Reports have examined who was held at Guantánamo and the asserted bases for detention, the circumstances of detainees’ capture and transfer, detention review procedures, interrogation and treatment practices, claims of post-release recidivism and other aspects of the detention system. The reports have been widely cited and have informed Supreme Court litigation, congressional proceedings and broader legal and policy debates concerning national security, detention and the rule of law.

The Law School’s engagement with Guantánamo extends beyond the Reports. Through its NGO observer status, students and alumni have traveled to Guantánamo to observe military commission proceedings and report on commission procedures, defendants’ rights and attorney-client confidentiality. Faculty have contributed scholarship, legal advocacy and public programming addressing habeas corpus, executive detention, military commissions, due process and Guantánamo’s broader legal legacy. Professor Mark Denbeaux led the Reports and testified before Congress on the Center’s findings. Professor Jonathan Hafetz now directs the project. This page brings together the Center’s research, reporting and related scholarship on Guantánamo and its continuing legal significance.

The Guantánamo Reports:

1. GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR TIMELINE: September 11, 2001 to January 20, 2009 (1/5/17)
2. GUANTANAMO: AMERICA'S BATTLE LAB  (1/9/15)
3. COSTS AND CONSQUENCES OF ARMING AMERICA'S LAW ENFORCEMENT WITH COMBAT EQUIPMENT  (9/5/14)
4. UNCOVERING THE COVER-UPS: DEATH AT CAMP DELTA  (5/15/14)
5. SPYING ON ATTORNEYS AT GTMO: GUANTÁNAMO BAY MILITARY COMMISSIONS AND THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP (4/12/13)
6. NO HEARING HABEAS: D.C. CIRCUIT RESTRICTS MEANINGFUL REVIEW (5/1/12)
7. NATIONAL SECURITY DESERVES BETTER: "ODD" RECIDIVISM NUMBERS UNDERMINE THE GUANTÁNAMO POLICY DEBATE (4/5/12)
8. THE GUANTÁNAMO DIET: ACTUAL FACTS ABOUT DETAINEE WEIGHT CHANGES (05/26/11)
9. RUMSFELD KNEW: DOD'S "WORST OF THE WORST" AND RECIDIVISM CLAIMS REFUTED BY RECENTLY DECLASSIFIED MEMO (03/03/11)
10. DRUG ABUSE: AN EXPLORATION OF THE GOVERNMENT'S USE OF MEFLOQUINE AT GUANTÁNAMO (12/02/10)
11. DOD CONTRADICTS DOD: AN ANALYSIS OF THE RESPONSE TO DEATH IN CAMP DELTA (02/04/10)
12. DEATH IN CAMP DELTA (12/07/09)
13. REVISIONIST RECIDIVISIM: AN ANALYSIS OF THE GOVERNMENTS REPRESENTATIONS OF ALLEGED "RECIDIVISM" OF THE GUANTÁNAMO DETAINEES (06/05/09)
14. TORTURE: WHO KNEW AN ANALYSIS OF THE FBI DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE REACTIONS TO HARSH INTERROGATION METHODS AT GUANTÁNAMO (04/01/09)
15. RELEASED GUANTÁNAMO DETAINEES OF THE DEPARTNMENT OF DEFENSE: PROPAGANDA BY THE NUMBERS? (01/15/09)
16. PROFILE OF RELEASED GUANTÁNAMO DETAINEES: THE GOVERNMENT'S STORY THEN AND NOW COVER STATEMENT BY PROFESSOR MARK DENBEAUX (08/04/08)
17. JUSTICE SCALIA, THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, AND THE PERPETUATION OF AN URBAN LEGEND: THE TRUTH ABOUT RECIDIVISM OF RELEASED GUANTÁNAMO DETAINEES (06/16/08)
18. CAPTURED ON TAPE: INTERROGATION AND VIDEOTAPING OF DETAINEES IN GUANTÁNAMO (02/07/08)
19. THE MEANING OF "BATTLEFIELD": AN ANALYSIS OF THE GOVERNMENT'S REPRESENTATIONS OF 'BATTLEFIELD CAPTURE' AND 'RECIDIVISM' OF THE GUANTÁNAMO DETAINEES (12/10/07)
20. PROFESSOR DENBEAUX'S TESTIMONY BEFORE THE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE ON C-SPAN THE EMPTY BATTLEFIELD AND THE THIRTEENTH CRITERION (11/08/07)
21. THE 14 MYTHS OF GUANTÁNAMO: SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE STATEMENT OF MARK P. DENBEAUX, PROFESSOR MARK P. DENBEAUX TESTIFIED BEFORE THE SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE ON 4/26/07
22. NO-HEARINGS HEARINGS (11/17/06)
23. JUNE 10TH SUICIDES AT GUANTÁNAMO (8/21/06)
24. THE GUANTÁNAMO DETAINEES DURING DETENTION DATA FROM DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE RECORDS (7/10/06)
25. SECOND REPORT ON THE GUANTÁNAMO DETAINEES: INTER- AND INTRA-DEPARTMENT DISAGREEMENTS ABOUT WHO IS OUR ENEMY (3/20/06)
26. REPORT ON GUANTÁNAMO DETAINEES AS A PROFILE OF 517 DETAINEES THROUGH ANALYSIS OF DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE DATA (2/8/06)
    
    

Seton Hall Law Review, Vol. 41, No. 4 (2011)

Visit the link here to learn more about the 2011 Seton Hall Law Review symposium, National Security Policy and the Role of Lawyering: Guantánamo and Beyond, and access the symposium’s articles and PDFs.

Guantánamo Dispatch

Seton Hall Law was the only law school to hold nongovernmental organization observer status at the Guantánamo hearings. Law students Adam Kirchner ’14, Joshua Wirtshafter ’14, Ryan Gallagher ’14, Eric Miller ’13, Chrystal Loyer ’12, Kari Panaccione ’12, Nicholas Stratton ’12 and Kelli Stout ’11, along with alumnus Charles Church ’71, participated in observing these hearings. Following students documented and shared their experiences in the Guantánamo Bay.

• Ghalib Mahmoud ’15 was the first Arab Muslim law student to represent Seton Hall Law at Camp Justice at the U.S. detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. In November 2014, he visited Camp Justice to observe the hearings of Abdul al-Hadi al-Iraqi, an Iraqi “high-value” detainee and alleged al-Qaida leader charged with several war crimes. Read Mahmoud's reflections. 
• Christopher Whitten ’15 reported from Camp Justice at Guantánamo Bay on the pretrial hearings for the five alleged planners of the 9/11 attacks. Read Whitten’s reports from Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3, along with his reflections.
• Jason Stern ’14 reported from Camp Justice at Guantánamo Bay during a weeklong visit, documenting tours of the facility, including an arts and crafts building, and technology glitches that led defense teams to question the security of U.S. government-maintained servers. Read Stern's reports from Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4-5, Day 6 and Day 7, along with his reflections.
• Kelly Ross ’13 visited the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base from October 22-26, 2012 as an official observer of military commissions, the tribunals established to try detainees for alleged war crimes. Read Ross's report.