WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The military has charged a U.S. Navy officer who worked as a lawyer at Guantanamo Bay with mailing classified information on foreign terrorism suspects there to an unauthorized person, the Navy said on Tuesday.Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Diaz, stationed from July 2004 to January 2005 at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, faced a total of eight counts of three criminal charges and could spend 36 1/2 years in prison if convicted on all, the Navy said. Diaz, 40, was not charged with espionage and remains free, working at a Navy office in Jacksonville, Florida, ahead of a military hearing set for October in Norfolk, on whether the case will proceed to court-martial, said Navy Mid-Atlantic Region spokeswoman Beth Baker said.
The charges relate to improper safeguarding of classified information and improper forwarding of classified information to a person not authorized to receive it. Diaz was accused of mailing "a multi-page classified document that contained the names and other identifying information" about Guantanamo detainees from that base to "a nongovernmental organization not authorized to receive it," Baker said.
The charge sheet provided by the Navy said Diaz copied and transmitted secret national defense information "with intent or reason to believe that the said information was to be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of a foreign nation." Baker declined to identify the organization beyond saying it was in the United States, and said the group turned over the document to federal authorities, prompting the investigation that led to the charges.
| LGF, carrying this story, guesses a) ACLU b) National Lawyers Guild c) CAIR. |
The charge sheet stated between December 20, 2004 and February 28, 2005, Diaz violated a Navy regulation by failing to properly safeguard and store classified secret information and failing to properly transport and mail such information by sending it via routine first-class mail. It also said he was derelict in his duties.
Diaz has served for 11 years as an officer in the Navy after spending eight years as an enlisted soldier in the Army, Baker said. Baker said his hometown is Topeka, Kansas. Diaz was formally charged on Monday, Baker said. Rear Adm. Frederic Ruehe is scheduled to decide after the October hearing whether Diaz will face trial, Baker said.