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| Six Months in Prison for Diaz | |||
| 2007-05-19 | |||
The jury of seven Navy officers recommended that Diaz receive his pay and benefits while incarcerated, but the sentence must be approved by Rear Admiral Rick Ruehe. The dismissal will also be reviewed by a military appellate court, the Navy said.
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| Navy lawyer had promised nondisclosure | ||||
| 2007-05-18 | ||||
 NORFOLK, Va. -- Two days before a Navy lawyer allegedly mailed a list of Guantánamo captives' names to a New York human rights group -- tucked inside a Valentine -- he signed a military form agreeing not to disclose ''any government information,'' according to testimony at his court-martial Tuesday.Navy Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Diaz, 41, faces up to 24 years in prison if convicted of five charges ranging from unlawfully releasing classified material that could harm the United States to conduct unbecoming an officer. Prosecutors argue that the list containing names, codes and serial numbers of 500-plus Guantánamo captives was a national security secret when Diaz sent a shrunken version in January 2005 to the Center for Constitutional Rights, a civil liberties law firm suing on behalf of both publicly identified and nameless war-on-terror captives. His lawyers argue the list was not marked ''secret'' or otherwise classified inside a special-access Defense Department computer that contained detainee intelligence information. Moreover, they say, he did not intend to harm national security or help America's enemies.
''I will never divulge, publish or reveal any government information,'' it said. Also: ``I will not communicate or transmit any Defense information to any unauthorized persons.''
Prosecutors claim that two days after he signed the agreement, Diaz mailed the material from Guantánamo inside a fire-engine-red envelope containing a Valentine with a droopy-eyed Chihuahua on the cover. The New York legal and human rights group turned the list over to a federal court security officer, who in turn alerted the FBI.
Later in the day, Diaz's successor as deputy staff judge advocate, Navy Reserves Lt. Cmdr. Tony de Alicante, testified that it was widely understood that material handled by the office was to be shrouded in secrecy. ''It was clear'' to new arrivals, he testified, ``that we were walking into a classified environment and we were expected to protect the things we were exposed to.''
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| Navy says officer passed secret Gitmo data | |
| 2006-08-30 | |
 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.
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. | |
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