Administrative Review Board

For the board of U.S. Labor Department, see Administrative Review Board (Labor).
Hearing room where Guantanamo detainee's annual Administrative Review Board hearings convened for those whose Combatant Status Review Tribunal had already determined they were an "enemy combatant".[1]

The Administrative Review Board is a United States military body that conducts an annual review of the detainees held by the United States in Camp Delta at the United States Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The purpose of the Board is to review whether the detainees still represent a threat. US President George W. Bush initially called the detainees "illegal combatants."[2][3][4] But, without a formal announcement of the policy change, the Bush Administration changed their description to "enemy combatant". From July 2004 through March 2005, military authorities conducted a one-time Combatant Status Review Tribunal for each detainee, to confirm whether they had been properly been classified as an "enemy combatant".

The Combatant Status Reviews were criticized by human rights workers because the detainees were not entitled to legal counsel, and did not know what allegations they had to defend themselves against, and the detainees had no presumption of innocence. The ARB was created in an attempt to mitigate the harsh results of potentially indefinite detention by allowing an annual review to determine whether the individual should still be detained.

The Combatant Status Reviews determined that 38 detainees were not illegal combatants after all. They determined that the rest of the detainees had been correctly classified as "enemy combatants" during their original, secret, classifications.

The first set of Administrative Reviews took place between December 14, 2004 and December 23, 2005. The Boards met to consider the cases of al 463 eligible detainees. They recommended the release of 14 detainees, and the repatriation of 120 detainees to the custody of the authorities in their home countries.

As of December 2023, 30 detainees remain at Guantanamo Bay.[5]

The United States Department of Defense (DoD) was under a court order from United States District Court Judge Jed Rakoff to release the names of all the detainees by 6:00 p.m. EST on March 3, 2006. The Department of Defense did not meet this deadline. They delivered a CD-ROM with approximately 5,000 pages of documents at 6:20 pm. DoD had to take that CD-ROM back and issue a second copy that without files that DoD decided not to release.

  1. ^ Spc Timothy Book (March 10, 2006). "Review process unprecedented" (PDF). The Wire (JTF-GTMO). p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 1, 2008. Retrieved 2007-10-12.
  2. ^ "Text of Bush, Karzai Remarks". Fox News. January 28, 2002. Retrieved 2008-02-19. BUSH: The question is about the detainees in Guantanamo Bay. I had a very interesting meeting this morning with my national security team. We're discussing all the legal ramifications of how we characterize the actions at Guantanamo Bay."
    "A couple of things we agree on. One, they will not be treated as prisoners of war; they're illegal combatants. Secondly, they will be treated humanely. And then I'll figure out -- I'll listen to all the legalisms and announce my decision when I make it.
  3. ^ Kevin Drew (December 7, 2001). "Tribunals break sharply from civilian courts". CNN. Archived from the original on May 20, 2011. Retrieved 2008-02-19.
  4. ^ Jon Leyne (29 January 2002). "Rift in Bush's team over detainees". BBC. Retrieved 2008-02-19. If Colin Powell prevails, a tribunal would have to determine the detainees' status.
  5. ^ "The Guantánamo Docket". The New York Times. 11 December 2023. Archived from the original on 10 January 2024. Retrieved 10 January 2024.