Independent Panel to Review DoD Detention Operations Concludes First Phase of Interviews with Active Duty Personnel, Senior Pentagon Officials

6/14/2004

From: Tom Alexander, 202-457-1817

WASHINGTON, June 14 -- The Independent Panel to Review DoD Detention Operations announced today it has concluded its first phase of interviews with active duty personnel in Iraq and senior officials in the Pentagon that are directly and indirectly involved with the incidents at Abu Ghraib prison.

"We are quickly progressing with our investigation and review," Panel Chairman Dr. James Schlesinger said. "The American people should be confident that this panel will provide an unvarnished assessment of how these abuses happened and what needs to be changed in order for them to never happen again."

Dr. Schlesinger said the Panel members have begun their review of current and past investigations and started its own look into DoD detention operations. Today's interviews with more than a half dozen were conducted in person and by secure videoconference within the Pentagon. The Panel plans to submit its final report by the end of July and its work will include additional interviews, fact-finding, extensive research and review.

The Panel's day-to-day operations are conducted in a secure office in Crystal City, Va., where the group is finalizing staff arrangements to help with its task. "We are quickly putting together a group of highly talented professionals to help us with this critical mission," former Defense Secretary Schlesinger added. "The caliber of people that we have reflect the gravity and objectivity needed for our work."

He noted, "Secretary Rumsfeld assured us he will provide the Panel what it needs to conduct a fair and thorough investigation in a timely manner."

Dr. Schlesinger estimated the full staff could be up to 20 and arrangements should be largely completed by the end of the week. He also noted that all staff members are required to have secret clearance to perform their work and will have varying expertise in military affairs, intelligence, and military legal matters.

The Panel's Executive Director, Dr. James Blackwell, was appointed just prior to the group's first meeting on Thursday, May 20. Blackwell is a military affairs expert and author. A West Point graduate, he authored On Brave Old Army Team, a book which was praised for its hard-hitting and in-depth look into the school's cheating scandal of 1951.

Members of the Panel are: Dr. James R. Schlesinger (Secretary of Defense for Presidents Nixon and Ford, Secretary of Energy for President Carter), Dr. Harold Brown (Secretary of Defense for President Carter), former U.S. Representative Tillie K. Fowler (senior member of the House Armed Services Committee and led last year's investigation into sexual misconduct at the U.S. Air Force Academy) and General Charles A. Horner, USAF, Ret. (architect of the air campaign in the 1991 Iraq War and former Commander North American Aerospace Defense Command and Space Command).