THE RULE OF LAW ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Morris D. Davis
Chief Prosecutor, Guantánamo Bay Military Commissions

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An interview with Morris D. Davis conducted March 20, 2012 by Myron Farber for the Columbia Center for Oral History, Rule of Law Oral History Project.

Morris Davis is a retired colonel in the United States Air Force and was the chief prosecutor for the Guantánamo Bay military commissions from 2005 to 2007. Col. Davis spent years as an attorney in the Judge Advocate General Corps [JAG], and is currently an assistant professor of lawyering skills at the Howard University School of Law. Highlights of this interview include Col. Davis’s early life and education, his career as a JAG lawyer, his personal experience on September 11, and discussions of the conditions of the Guantánamo Bay detention center, detainee interrogation techniques, military commissions procedures, his resignation as chief prosecutor and reassignment to Air Force Judiciary, the transfer of high-value detainees from CIA black sites to Guantánamo Bay, drone warfare, and the need for an international effort to combat global terrorism.

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