Pauline Storum is an officer in the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

, who has specialized in Public Affairs

Public policy

Public policy as government action is generally the principled guide to action taken by the administrative or executive branches of the state with regard to a class of issues in a manner consistent with law and institutional customs. In general, the foundation is the pertinent national and...

.

In the Spring of 2008 Storum was rotated to be the deputy commander of
Joint Task Force Guantanamo

Joint Task Force Guantanamo

Joint Task Force Guantanamo is a U.S. military joint task force based at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba on the southeastern end of the island. JTF-GTMO falls under US Southern Command...

's Public Affairs Office.

Ibrahim Al Qosi's call home

Notably, on May 22, 2008 Storum told the Press that the Guantanamo camp authorities had already complied with a ruling from earlier that day, from the Presiding Officer

Presiding Officer (Guantanamo Military Commissions)

The United States of America has charged Guantanamo captives before "Military Commissions", each presided over by a Presiding Officer.The Presiding Officer were initially to serve as the first among equals on bodies were the commission members served the roles similar to both judge and jury.In the...

 of Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al Qosi

Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al Qosi

-Habeas petition:A petition of habeas corpus was filed on Al Qosi's behalf.Over two hundred captives had habeas corpus petitions filed on their behalf before the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 and the Military Commissions Act of 2006 closed off the captives' access to the US civilian justice...

's Military Commission

Guantanamo military commission

The Guantanamo military commissions are military tribunals created by the Military Commissions Act of 2006 for prosecuting detainees held in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps.- History :...

, that provision be made for him to phone home.

Storum's claim triggered controversy.
Commander

Commander

Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...

 Suzanne Lachelier

Suzanne Lachelier

Suzanne Lachelier is an American lawyer and commander in the United States Navy.Lachelier lived in France, in Orgeval, until 1983. She is fluent in French...

, Ibrahim Al Qosi's appointed military lawyer, expressed surprise at learning from newspaper reports that the arrangements for the call had been made, and completed, without any participation from her.
Normally calls between captives and their family are made with the assistance of the International Committee of the Red Cross

International Committee of the Red Cross

The International Committee of the Red Cross is a private humanitarian institution based in Geneva, Switzerland. States parties to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977 and 2005, have given the ICRC a mandate to protect the victims of international and...

, who meet with the captive's family first, to make sure access to a telephone can be arranged, and to pre-schedule the call for a time when the family can be available.

On May 23, 2008 Storum sent an apology by e-mail to reporters to retract her claim the phone call had been completed.

I misspoke when I confirmed that al Qosi's call was complete. In clarifying the current status of the detainee phone program, I misunderstood the information I was given, and inaccurately conveyed that al Qosi's call was completed. I apologize for the error.

Carol Rosenberg

Carol Rosenberg

Carol Rosenberg is a senior journalist, currently with the McClatchy News Service.Rosenberg works at the Miami Herald, which has provided extensive coverage of the operation of the Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.-Biography:...

, of the Miami Herald commented on Storum's initial announcement:

The original statement Thursday struck some observers as extraordinary -- for both its speed and the coordination between the separate bureaucracies of the prison camp and the war court.