Phil Carter
Encyclopedia
Phillip E. Carter is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 lawyer, writer, and former officer in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

.
Carter was a founding member of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America , is an advocacy group dedicated to United States veterans of the War in Iraq and War in Afghanistan. The group claims to be the nation's first and largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization for veterans of the wars and has more than 200,000 Member Veterans...

, and he also served as a principal of the Truman National Security Project
Truman National Security Project
thumb|right|300pxThe Truman National Security Project is a national security leadership institute based in Washington, D.C. It is the nation's only organization that recruits, trains, and positions progressives across America to lead on national security. The organization is named after President...

.

Education

Carter attended the University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...

, earning a Bachelor's Degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...

 there in 1997, and his Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...

 in 2004. Carter also received the Harry S. Truman Scholarship in 1996.

Legal career

Carter practiced law as an associate at McKenna Long & Aldridge, first in Los Angeles, and later in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

.
He specialized in government contracts and national security law there, including representation of leading defense and aerospace contractors.
He contributed to amicus briefs for FAIR v. Rumsfeld and Hamdan v. Rumsfeld
Hamdan v. Rumsfeld
Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 548 U.S. 557 , is a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that military commissions set up by the Bush administration to try detainees at Guantanamo Bay lack "the power to proceed because its structures and procedures violate both the Uniform Code of Military...

. Carter took a leave of absence from his law firm in 2005-06, after being called to active duty by the Army, to serve in Iraq.

In June 2008, Carter took a leave of absence to join the Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

 campaign as its national veterans director. He returned to his position at McKenna Long & Aldridge in 2010
after resigning as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs.

In 2011, Carter left McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP to join Caerus Associates as the company's Chief Operating Officer. Caerus Associates is a strategy and design consulting firm in Arlington, Virginia, founded by Dr. David Kilcullen
David Kilcullen
David John Kilcullen F.R.G.S is an Australian author and consultant who is a leading theorist on counterinsurgency and counterterrorism. In 2007 he served as the Senior Counterinsurgency Adviser to the Commander of the Multi-National Force - Iraq responsible for planning and executing the Joint...

 and Kathleen McInnis.

Writing career

He wrote the "Intel Dump" blog beginning in 2002. In 2008, he began writing this blog for the Washington Post, and edited the Convictions legal blog for Slate magazine.
Carter's articles have appeared in many other publications, including the New York Times, Washington Monthly, Wall Street Journal, and Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...

. In 2006, he won an award (with Dahlia Lithwick
Dahlia Lithwick
-External links:*...

 and Emily Bazelon
Emily Bazelon
Emily Bazelon is an American journalist, senior editor for online magazine Slate, and a senior research fellow at Yale Law School. Her work as a writer focuses on law, abortion, and family issues.-Journalism career:...

) for a feature on torture that appeared in Slate
Slate (magazine)
Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...

.

United States Army service

Carter served on active and reserve duty for nine years in the U.S. Army as a Military Police and Civil Affairs
Civil Affairs
Civil Affairs is a term used by both the United Nations and by military institutions , but for different purposes in each case.-United Nations Civil Affairs:...

 officer. He served from 1997 to 2001, including assignments in Korea, Texas and the Mojave Desert. From October 2005 to September 2006, he was an embedded adviser with the Iraqi police in Baqubah
Baqubah
Baqubah is the capital of Iraq's Diyala Governorate.The city is located some to the northeast of Baghdad, on the Diyala River. In 2003 it had an estimated population of some 467,900 people....

, the capital of Iraq's Diyala province.
His team's work was profiled by the Wall Street Journal in a June 13, 2006, front-page story, and by NPR as well.

He has consulted on operational and legal issues for state and local anti-terrorism task forces, and he has lectured about law and terrorism at UCLA.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs

The Washington Post reported in February 2009 that Carter was slated to be the new Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs
The Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs is a political appointment created by United States President George W. Bush. The appointee has responsibility for captives apprehended during the "war on terror"....

, following speculation on Pentagon blogs about his appointment.
The Pentagon formally announced Carter's appointment on May 6, 2009.
Carter is the fourth official to be appointed to this post, replacing career diplomat Sandra Hodgkinson
Sandra Hodgkinson
Sandra Hodgkinson is an American lawyer, officer in the United States Navy Reserve, and a U.S. Government career employee.She was selected by the Bush Administration to serve as the State Department's Deputy Director, Office of War Crimes Issues...

.

In November 2009 Carter announced his resignation, effective in December 2009, for personal reasons.
The exact date he submitted his resignation, and his last day on the job have not been made public.
In his position, he traveled frequently to Guantanamo Bay, Iraq and Afghanistan. Carter was the chief architect of the Obama administration plan to close Guantanamo Bay, and bring detainees to a maximum security prison in Northwest Illinois. His last official trip was to Thomson, Illinois
Thomson, Illinois
Thomson is a village along Illinois Route 84 near the Mississippi River in Carroll County, Illinois, United States. The population was 590 at the 2010 census, up from 559 at the 2000 census...

, the site of a prison the Obama administration has decided to use to house some captives currently held in detention
Detention (imprisonment)
Detention is the process when a state, government or citizen lawfully holds a person by removing their freedom of liberty at that time. This can be due to criminal charges being raised against the individual as part of a prosecution or to protect a person or property...

 in Guantanamo, in Cuba.

Publications


External links

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