Military Commissions Appointments Announced
September 19, 2008

Today the Defense Department announced two appointments in the Office of Military Commissions. Air Force Brig. Gen. Tom Hartmann will assume the position of director of operations, planning and development for military commissions, reporting to the general counsel of the Defense Department. Hartmann will be responsible for the initiation, review, staffing, coordination and execution of all planning and development matters relating to military commissions.

“Gen. Hartmann has driven the commissions process forward since his arrival in July 2007. In no small part because of his efforts and his dedication, the commissions are an active, operational legal system. Due to the dramatic increase in the number of military commission cases, the more than doubling of personnel, and the various policy, logistics and systems issues that arise regularly and frequently in the commissions, it is necessary to establish a more comprehensive executive support structure,” said Daniel J. Dell’Orto, acting general counsel.

Michael Chapman, currently the deputy legal advisor for military commissions, will become the legal advisor, reporting to the deputy general counsel (legal counsel). The chief prosecutor of military commissions will continue to report to the legal advisor.

Chapman retired from the military as a colonel in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps after nearly 30 years of active duty service. He joined the Office of Military Commissions in April 2005 as the deputy legal advisor and staff director. Prior to working at OMC, Chapman was the senior judge for the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals. Some highlights from his career include service as the Army’s Staff Judge Advocate for the Military District of Washington, deputy commandant and director of academics at the Army’s JAG school in Charlottesville, Va., and a deployment as a senior military defense counsel during Operation Desert Storm.