Paul Lewis
Paul Lewis
Paul Lewis
NationalityAmerican
Other namesPaul M. Lewis
Alma materUniversity of Notre Dame (A.B., 1980; J.D., 1983)
Occupation(s)Lawyer, diplomat
Known forAppointed to help close Guantanamo

Paul Lewis is an American lawyer and diplomat.[1][2] Lewis served as Marine JAG officer and chief counsel to House Armed Services Committee, before President Obama appointed him as Special Envoy for Guantanamo Bay facility closure.

Early life and education

Lewis earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1980 and his J.D. degree from Notre Dame Law School in 1983.[1][3]

Career

He rose to the rank of captain, within the Marine Corps, during the five years he served as a JAG officer. He had also served as an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan, and an anti-racketeering prosecutor for the Department of Justice, before holding a series of posts as counsels to Congressional Representatives, or to Congressional committees. Obama had announced the creation of two positions during a speech about Guantanamo at the Defense University in May 2013.[1][4][5][6] William Lietzau, the most recent Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs had resigned in July, without being replaced. Lewis's position was not a direct replacement for the empty DASD-DA position. The other position was that of a special envoy for Guantanamo closure within the State Department. That position had been filled in June, by Clifford Sloan. On October 7, 2013 President Barack Obama appointed Lewis to be United States Department of Defense's Special Envoy for Guantanamo Closure, the most senior Pentagon official tasked with closing the notorious Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. Lewis is currently a law professor at Georgetown University. Carol Rosenberg, writing in the Miami Herald, reported that, at Georgetown Lewis had specialized in teaching legal ethics.[1]

The Hill reported Lewis also had responsibility for finding new homes for the foreigners the USA held in extrajudicial detention in Afghanistan.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Carol Rosenberg (2014-10-07). "Capitol Hill lawyer chosen as Pentagon's 'Guantánamo closer'". Miami Herald. Archived from the original on 2014-11-25. Paul Lewis will fill the job that has been vacant since President Barack Obama created it in May, the Pentagon said Tuesday — a day after the Miami Herald reported on the appointment. Lewis, the minority counsel for the House Armed Services Committee, will work for Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel exclusively on closing Guantánamo and transferring foreign prisoners from Afghanistan as a counterpart to State Department envoy Clifford Sloan's work for Secretary of State John Kerry.
  2. ↑ "Secretary Hagel Announces Appointment to Key Defense Post". Department of Defense. 2013-10-08. Retrieved 2014-11-25. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel today announced the appointment of Paul M. Lewis to the position of Special Envoy for Guantanamo closure. This announcement reflects the Department's commitment to implementing the President's directive to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.
  3. ↑ "Paul M. Lewis: Special Envoy for Guantanamo Detention Closure". Official Biographies. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  4. ↑ Charlie Savage (2013-10-08). "Pentagon Names Envoy for Guantánamo's Closing". New York Times. Washington DC. p. A16. Archived from the original on December 8, 2013. Retrieved 2014-11-25. Mr. Lewis joins Cliff Sloan, who was appointed in June to be the State Department's envoy. The appointment of Mr. Lewis, who had worked in the office of the Pentagon general counsel earlier in the Obama administration, is part of a larger turnover of staff on detention issues. In July, William Lietzau, who had been the Pentagon's top policy official on detainee matters, announced that he was stepping down to take a private sector job.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. ↑ Spencer Ackerman (2013-10-08). "Pentagon appoints new envoy to help close Guantánamo Bay prison: Paul Lewis also given task of finding third countries to take custody of US military's non-Afghan detainees in Afghanistan". The Guardian. Archived from the original on October 8, 2013. Retrieved 2014-11-25. The job is a new one for the Pentagon, complementing a similar position at the State Department. President Obama announced its creation in May during a major national security speech in which he recommitted himself to his thwarted goal of shuttering Guántanamo.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  6. 1 2 Jeremy Herb (2013-10-08). "Hagel appoints Guantánamo Bay envoy". The Hill. Archived from the original on 2014-11-25. The president has renewed his efforts this year, and Lewis will be filling a vacant position created by Obama four months ago. Lewis will be tasked with facilitating transfers out of Guantánamo, as well as overseeing the transfer of detainees held by the United States in Afghanistan.
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