Fred Borch - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Colonel Frederic L. Borch is a former military attorney who served as Chief Prosecutor of the Guantanamo military commissions before he was replaced by Robert L. Swann

Robert L. Swann (military lawyer)

Robert L. Swann is an American lawyer and retired Army colonel. He is currently the lead prosecutor on the cases of Khalid Sheik Muhammed and Mr...

after it was alleged that Borch was trying to corrupt the commissions.

Background

Borch received a B.A.

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

in history from Davidson College

Davidson College

Davidson College is a private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina. The college has graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars and is consistently ranked in the top ten liberal arts colleges in the country by U.S. News and World Report magazine, although it has recently dropped to 11th in U.S. News...

in 1976, and was commissioned into the U.S. 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...

. He studied law at the University of North Carolina

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...

for his J.D.

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...

degree, then at the University of Brussels for an LL.M. in International and Comparative Law

International law

Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states; analogous entities, such as the Holy See; and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...

(magna cum laude)
mirror

A legal assistant to Fort Benning

Fort Benning

Fort Benning is a United States Army post located southeast of the city of Columbus in Muscogee and Chattahoochee counties in Georgia and Russell County, Alabama...

's Army Infantry School

United States Army Infantry School

The United States Army Infantry School is located in Fort Benning, Georgia. It is made up of the following components:*192d Infantry Brigade...

and the 325th Infantry Regiment, Borch spent two years as a defense counsel at the Army's Trial Defense Service

United States Army Trial Defense Service

The United States Army Trial Defense Service is an independent unit within the Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Army, and is part of the US Army Legal Services Agency . The TDS motto is "Defending Those Who Defend America."...

in Kaiserslautern, Germany

Kaiserslautern

Kaiserslautern is a city in southwest Germany, located in the Bundesland of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate forest . The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfurt am Main, and from Luxembourg.Kaiserslautern is home to 99,469 people...

.

In 1987, Borch enrolled for a year at the Judge Advocate General

Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Army

The Judge Advocate General's Corps of the United States Army is composed of Army officers who are also lawyers and who provide legal services to the Army at all levels of command. The Judge Advocate General's Legal Service includes judge advocates, warrant officers, paralegal noncommissioned...

's school in Charlottesville, Virginia and received his degree in Military Law before being assigned to Fort Bragg

Fort Bragg (North Carolina)

Fort Bragg is a major United States Army installation, in Cumberland and Hoke counties, North Carolina, U.S., mostly in Fayetteville but also partly in the town of Spring Lake. It was also a census-designated place in the 2010 census and had a population of 39,457. The fort is named for Confederate...

's XVIII Airborne Corps, while also serving as a civilian assistant District Attorney

District attorney

In many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...

for North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

In 1990, Borch began a 3-year term as professor of Criminal Law

Criminal law

Criminal law, is the body of law that relates to crime. It might be defined as the body of rules that defines conduct that is not allowed because it is held to threaten, harm or endanger the safety and welfare of people, and that sets out the punishment to be imposed on people who do not obey...

at the JAG school, specialising in Fourth Amendment

Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution

The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures, along with requiring any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause...

application. Following this position, he enrolled at the Command and General Staff College

Command and General Staff College

The United States Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas is a graduate school for United States Army and sister service officers, interagency representatives, and international military officers. The college was established in 1881 by William Tecumseh Sherman as a...

at Fort Leavenworth

Fort Leavenworth

Fort Leavenworth is a United States Army facility located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, immediately north of the city of Leavenworth in the upper northeast portion of the state. It is the oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C. and has been in operation for over 180 years...

, which led to a job in the Joint Service Committee for Military Justice between the JAG office and the Pentagon

The Pentagon

The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...

- where he drafted legislation related to the Uniform Code of Military
Justice and proposed changes to the Manual for Courts-Martial.

Borch oversaw the successful 1997 prosecution of 13 drill sergeants accused of sexual misconduct at Aberdeen Proving Ground

Aberdeen Proving Ground

Aberdeen Proving Ground is a United States Army facility located near Aberdeen, Maryland, . Part of the facility is a census-designated place , which had a population of 3,116 at the 2000 census.- History :...

, and was consequently made Deputy Chief in the Army’s Government Appellate Division. The following year, he was made Staff Judge Advocate for Fort Gordon

Fort Gordon

Fort Gordon, formerly known as Camp Gordon, is a United States Army installation established in 1917. It is the current home of the United States Army Signal Corps and Signal Center and was once the home of "The Provost Marshal General School" . The fort is located in Richmond, Jefferson, McDuffie,...

's
Army Signal Center.

He attended the Naval War College

Naval War College

The Naval War College is an education and research institution of the United States Navy that specializes in developing ideas for naval warfare and passing them along to officers of the Navy. The college is located on the grounds of Naval Station Newport in Newport, Rhode Island...

in Newport, Rhode Island

Newport, Rhode Island

Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...

and graduated at the top of his class receiving his Masters degree in National Security Studies in 2001, before taking a position as a professor of International Law focusing on counter-terrorism.

Corruption of the Guantanamo hearings

On June 15, 2005 Lieutenant Commander

Lieutenant Commander

Lieutenant Commander is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander...

Charles Swift

Charles D. Swift is a former Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy, Judge Advocate General's Corps and Visiting Associate Professor of Law at Emory University School of Law. During the course of his Navy career, he was assigned to the Department of Defense Office of Military Commissions. He is...

testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that:
Other prosecutors including Capt. John Carr and Maj. Robert Preston wrote that Borch told them that the presiding officers had been chosen because they would be sure to convict, and that all the evidence that suggested that the suspects were innocent would be given a secret security classification, so that defense teams would not learn of its existence. Borch denounced the two men, claiming they were "monstrous lies", but consequently resigned his commission

Following Borch's replacement both Peter Brownback

Peter Brownback

Peter E. Brownback III is a retired military officer and lawyer.He was appointed to be a Presiding Officer on the Guantanamo military commissions, by retired general John D. Altenburg....

, the commission's President, and Swann, his replacement, recommended the removal of other members of the commission.
Air Force

Air force

An air force, also known in some countries as an air army, is in the broadest sense, the national military organization that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army, navy or...

Lieutenant Colonel

Lieutenant Colonel (United States)

In the United States Army, United States Air Force, and United States Marine Corps, a lieutenant colonel is a field grade military officer rank just above the rank of major and just below the rank of colonel. It is equivalent to the naval rank of commander in the other uniformed services.The pay...

Timothy K. Toomey was an intelligence officer who was involved in capture of suspects in Afghanistan. Army

United States Army

Lieutenant Colonel Curt S. Cooper admitted calling Guantanamo prisoners "terrorists."

Later life

An article in the March 31, 2007 issue of the Wall Street Journal noted that while Borch had retired from the military, he continued to work for the Guantanamo prosecution teams as a civilian consultant.

He has had a number of works published by the military, including the 2001 Judge Advocates in Combat: Army Lawyers in Military Operations from Vietnam to Haiti, the 2002 The Silver Star
Silver Star
The Silver Star is the third-highest combat military decoration that can be awarded to a member of any branch of the United States armed forces for valor in the face of the enemy....

: A History of America’s Third Highest Award for Valor, the 2003 Judge Advocates in Vietnam, a history of Army lawyers in Southeast Asia from 1959 to 1975 and the 2005 Kimmel, Short and Pearl Harbor: The Final Report Revealed.

In addition, he is an active contributor to the Orders and Medals Society of America journal and the first-ever archive historian for the JAG office.

In 2009, Borch was hired by The American Film Company to be an advisor on The Conspirator. Directed by Robert Redford, the movie is about the military commission that tried Mary Surratt and the other Lincoln assassination conspirators in 1865. The film stars James McAvoy and Robin Wright and was released in 2010.

External links

International Law and the War on Terror, a 2003 article co-authored by Borch. mirror

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Background

Corruption of the Guantanamo hearings

Later life

See also

External links