Oral history interview with Morris D. Davis, 2012.

Biographical Note

Chief Prosecutor, Guantánamo Bay Military Commissions.

Scope and Contents

Born: July 31, 1958, Shelby, North Carolina; Education: B.S., Appalachian State University; J.D., North Carolina Central University School of Law; LL.M, U.S. Army JAG [Judge Advocate General]; Career: Lawyer, JAG corps; Deputy Commandant and Instructor, Air Force JAG school; Staff Judge Advocate, Columbus Air Force Base and Dyess Air Force Base; Director of Legal Information Services, U.S. Air Force Academy; Chief Prosecutor, Guantánamo Bay Military Commissions; Senior Specialist in National Security and Director of Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade, Congressional Research Service [CRS]; Assistant Professor of Lawyering Skills, Howard University. Reminiscences: early life and education in North Carolina; career as a JAG lawyer; personal experience on September 11; initial opinion of Guantánamo Bay detainees; recruitment as military commissions chief prosecutor; tension between Defense Department political appointees and uniformed officers; opposition to enhanced interrogation techniques; opposition to military commissions procedures; resignation as chief prosecutor, reassignment to Air Force Judiciary; cancelled military commissions segment on 60 Minutes; denial of Defense Meritorious Service Medal; termination of CRS position; support of President Obama's 2008 presidential campaign; Discussions: Failures of communication between military and media; military commissions cases; Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (2006); critique of “worst of the worst” distinction of detainees; transfer of high-value detainees from CIA black sites to Guantánamo; Military Commissions Act of 2006; Bush and Obama administrations' foreign policy; debate over prosecution of detainees in military commissions versus federal court system; applicability of Geneva Conventions and international law; fallacy of ticking time bomb scenario; need for a more international effort to combat global terrorism; drone warfare.

Subjects

• 60 minutes (Television program)
• Combatants and noncombatants (International law)
• Constitutional law--United States.
• Criminal justice, Administration of--United States.
• Davis, Morris D., 1958---Interviews.
• Detention of unlawful combatants--United States.
• Farber, Myron, interviewer.--http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/ivr
• Guantánamo Bay oral history project.
• Habeas corpus--United States.
• Interviews.
• Lawyers--United States--Interviews.
• Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Prisoners--Legal status, laws, etc.--United States.
• Prisoners of war--Legal status, laws, etc.--Cuba--Guantánamo Bay Naval Base--Cases.
• Rule of law--United States.
• Unlawful combatants--Legal status, laws, etc.--United States.
• War on Terrorism, 2001-2009.

Access Conditions

Copyright by The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, 2012.