Gary D. Brown
Colonel Gary D. Brown is an American lawyer and former officer in the United States Air Force.[1][2] He was the official U.S. observer to the drafting of the Tallinn Manual on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Warfare (2013)[3][4] and is a member of the International Group of Experts that authored Tallinn Manual 2.0 (2017).[5] Professor Brown also appeared as the legal expert in the documentary film Zero Days (2016).[6]
Gary D. Brown | |
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![]() Official portrait of Colonel Gary D. Brown, 2009. | |
Nationality | American |
Occupation(s) | Lawyer, USAF officer |
Known for | Cyber operations scholarship and blowing the whistle on government waste at Guantanamo |
Notable work | State Cyberspace Operations: Proposing a Cyber Response Framework |
Academic career
Year | Degree | Institution |
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1984 | B.Sc. | University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, Missouri |
1987 | J.D. | University of Nebraska College of Law, Lincoln, Nebraska |
1988 | LL.M. | Cambridge University, England |
1994 | Squadron Officer School, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama | |
2000 | Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama | |
2005 | Air War College, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama |
Publications
Year | Title | Published in |
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2017 | Out of the Loop | Temple International & Comparative Law Journal |
2019 | Commentary on the Law of Cyber Operations and the DoD Law of War Manual | Chapter in The United States Department of Defense Law of War Manual |
2020 | State Cyberspace Operations: Proposing a Cyber Response Framework | RUSI Occasional Paper |
2020 | International Law and Cyber Conflict | Chapter in Routledge Handbook of International Cybersecurity First Edition |
2021 | If You Think AI Won't Eclipse Humanity, You're Probably Just a Human | William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal |
Guantanamo military commission
In 2017 Brown was appointed the legal advisor to a Guantanamo military commission's newly appointed Convening authority, Harvey Rishikof.[13]
Rishikof and Brown's appointments were terminated in early 2018.[2][13][14] Observers commented that their termination suggested a disagreement between the pair and their superiors at the Pentagon.
In July 2020 Brown told National Public Radio that he and Rishikof had been negotiating plea agreements with the lawyers of the men facing charges.[2] They'd take the death penalty off the table, if the suspects agreed to plead guilty and accept a sentence of life imprisonment.
Whistleblower
In 2019 Brown formally filed a whistleblower report alleging substantial government waste, at Guantanamo.[15][16][17] According to Brown, operating costs at Guantanamo had been $6 billion.
References
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Stephen Szrom (2018-03-23). "Summary: Declarations Regarding the Removal of Military Commission Convening Authority Rishikof". Lawfare.
Rishikof and Brown expressed concern about the simultaneous removal of the convening authority and legal adviser. They also objected to the possible simultaneous appointment of two convening authorities as, according to the declaration, the Pentagon appointed the acting convening authority, Jim Coyne, before informing Rishikof of his removal.`
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Sacha Pfeiffer (2019-09-11). "Guantánamo Has Cost Billions; Whistleblower Alleges 'Gross' Waste". National Public Radio. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
Retired Air Force Col. Gary Brown also claims that he and the former head of the military court were fired because they were negotiating a controversial cost-saving proposal with defense lawyers: allow Guantánamo prisoners — including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his four co-defendants in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks — to plead guilty in exchange for life in prison rather than face the death penalty. Such plea deals, Brown says, 'would stop wasting resources.'
- "Mr. Gary D. Brown, J.D." es.ndu.edu. National Defense University. Retrieved 2023-06-24.
- Schmitt, Michael, ed. (2013). Tallinn Manual on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Warfare. International Group of Experts for NATO (1st ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107302631.
- Schmitt, Michael, ed. (2017). Tallinn Manual 2.0 on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Operations. International Group of Experts and Other Participants (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781316822524.
- Zero Days (2016) - IMDb, retrieved 2023-06-24
- "Biography: Colonel Gary D. Brown" (PDF). University of Berkeley. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
- Brown, Gary (2017). "Out of the Loop". Temple International & Comparative Law Journal. 30 (1). SSRN 2891029.
- Brown, Gary D. (2019), Newton, Michael A. (ed.), "Commentary on the Law of Cyber Operations and the DoD Law of War Manual", The United States Department of Defense Law of War Manual: Commentary and Critique, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 337–359, ISBN 978-1-108-42715-9, retrieved 2023-06-26
- Brown, Gary (2020). "State Cyberspace Operations: Proposing a Cyber Response Framework". RUSI Occasional Paper 2020. SSRN 3689233.
- Brown, Gary D. (2020), "International law and cyber conflict", Routledge Handbook of International Cybersecurity, Routledge, pp. 366–378, doi:10.4324/9781351038904-36, ISBN 978-1-351-03890-4, S2CID 213509210, retrieved 2023-06-26
- Brown, Gary (2021). "If You Think AI Won't Eclipse Humanity, You're Probably Just a Human". William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal. 30 (2).
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Josh Gerstein (2018-03-22). "Mattis: Aerial photo request triggered firing of Gitmo tribunal overseer". Politico. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
Rishikof and Brown said in a declaration filed with a military judge earlier this week that they were not advised of any concerns about their performance before they were abruptly fired last month.
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Carol Rosenberg (2018-05-28). "Former Navy Judge Named to Oversee Guantánamo Military Court". The New York Times. Washington, DC. p. A6. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
Mr. Rishikof and his legal adviser, Gary Brown, said in a joint affidavit that they had not been warned in advance that senior Pentagon officials were unhappy with their performances but were aware that they had made some unpopular and controversial decisions, including discussing guilty pleas in the two capital cases in exchange for life in prison rather than execution.
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Sachar Pfeiffer (2019-09-11). "Whistleblower Cites 'Waste Of Funds' At Guantánamo Court And Prison". National Public Radio. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
NPR has learned that a former top attorney at the military court there has filed a federal whistleblower complaint alleging gross waste of funds and gross mismanagement.
- Sacha Pfeiffer (2019-11-14). "A Legacy Of Torture Is Preventing Trials At Guantánamo". National Public Radio. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
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Paul Szoldra (2019-09-17). [2019-09-17 "Guantanamo Bay only has 40 prisoners left, and they cost the US more than a half-billion dollars a year"]. Business Insider. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
One part of the cost equation comes from government prosecutors, who have been pursuing death penalty convictions for some, which critics say is a waste of money and time given that the evidence in many cases is "tainted by torture." And, as Brown further argues, even if they get a conviction, most of those cases will result in lengthy appeals that will cost billions more. (Brown pushed for settlement negotiations instead.)
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