User:Geo Swan/Convening Authority (Guantanamo)

The term Convening Authority is used by the United States military to refer to an individual whose job includes appointing officers to play a role in a Court Martial, or preliminary hearings. The officers on a Court Martial, Tribunal, or Military Commission, report back to the Convening Authority their recommended verdict. The Guantanamo military commissions were set up so that they too answered to an individual called the Convening Authority, based on the usage within the US military, but with certain key differences.

In US military usage the convening authority is always a military officer. Under the Guantanamo military commission system those individuals are always civilians. However six of the seven individuals chosen were recently retired flag officers. Susan Crawford, the second Convening Authority, had been a long-term senior civilian lawyer for the Department of Defense, eventually serving as the Inspector General.