Seattle, USA - The Pentagon's inspector general has concluded that for the most part, the Army properly handled the case of a Muslim Army chaplain who was detained for 76 days and then cleared in an espionage probe.
A two-page, unclassified executive summary released Wednesday said the investigation found only two mistakes: One, when a general overturned former Capt. James Yee's reprimand for committing adultery and downloading pornography; and two, when a deputy public affairs officer wrote a letter to The New York Times about the case.
Yee's attorney, Gene Fidell, called the document "preposterous," and noted that he was never contacted by the Defense Department's Office of the Inspector General. The office launched its investigation in mid-2004 at the request of Democratic lawmakers who questioned whether Yee was unfairly targeted because of his religion.
"What kind of investigation is this?" he asked. "Why is it it took them three years? Three years, and they come up with two pages? This is a deep insult to Congress, not to mention Chaplain Yee. Congress had a right to expect more, better, sooner."
Yee, who had been based at Fort Lewis south of Seattle, was arrested in 2003 and charged with mishandling classified material and other crimes in a suspected espionage ring at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. The criminal charges were later dropped, but he was then reprimanded for adultery and downloading pornography.
Gen. James T. Hill, commander of the U.S. Southern Command, threw out that reprimand in early 2004, saying, "I do not believe, given the extreme notoriety of his case in the news media, that further stigmatizing Chaplain Yee would serve a just and fair purpose."
Yee received an honorable discharge in January 2005, followed by an Army commendation for "exceptionally meritorious service."
The executive summary released Wednesday said Hill's decision exceeded his authority under Army regulations.
"Our review concluded that DOD officials acted properly in initiating a counterintelligence investigation of Chaplain Yee and later in apprehending him after a search by Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security personnel and military authorities revealed he possessed suspected classified information," the summary said. "Further, we found that DOD officials acted in good faith and within applicable standards in ordering Chaplain Yee's initial and continued pretrial confinement and Chaplain Yee was not targeted because of his religious affiliation."
Fidell, Yee's attorney, raised questions about a footnote on the second page, which said that it was not until May 19, 2004 - long after the case was over - that the Army completed a formal classification review of the documents found in Yee's possession when he was arrested at Jacksonville Naval Air Station in Florida. The review should have been done before, not after, Yee was accused of mishandling classified materials, Fidell said.
The review found 54 documents containing secret information, according to the footnote. Yee has said there were no classified materials in his possession, and most of the documents had been downloaded from the Internet for a postgraduate course in international relations.
"If this stuff was really classified, why didn't they charge him?" Fidell asked. "Why didn't they persist?"
A Pentagon spokeswoman said no one was immediately available after hours to discuss the summary.