Obama Eliminates ‘Enemy Combatant’ from DOJ Legal Lexicon

In a U-turn from the language of the Bush administration, the White House has eliminated the use of the term "enemy combatant" concerning terrorism suspects being held at the U.S. military detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. At the same time, the White House may also have strengthened the legal standard that must be met to continue their incarceration.

The change in policy was revealed by a U.S. Department of Justice filing made in response to a federal judge's request for a definition by today of the term "enemy combatant," reports the Washington Post.

Under the new policy, the DOJ says, it will seek to detain only suspects who "substantially supported" the Taliban, al-Qaida or associated terrorist groups, or were involved in mounting the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the newspaper explains. Formerly, the Bush administration contended it had the power to detain anyone who provided support to these groups or others others "engaged in hostilities" against this country and U.S. allies.

This change in terminology is a distinction without a difference, however, says Human Rights First CEO and Executive Director Elisa Massimino in a press release:

"The new definition of persons who may be held without charge does not differ in any fundamental respects from the old one, and it significantly distorts important traditional law of war distinctions between international and non-international armed conflict," she states. "The concept of indefinite detention without criminal charge continues, and the class of persons to be detained remains ill-defined and overly broad."

However, the DOJ was right to eliminate use of the enemy combatant term, says Massimino, and she urges the Obama administration to "make a clean break from the policies of the past" by narrowing the new standard further.

A subsequent New York Times article offers a similar analysis of the new legal standard:

“This seems fundamentally consistent with the positions of the prior administration,” attorney Steven Engel tells the newspaper. Until the final days of the Bush administration, he was a senior lawyer in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel and was responsible for handling detainee issues.

Regardless of the definitional language used, "the important point is that they recognize that we can detain members of the enemy” in a wartime situation, says Engel.

A copy of the DOJ legal memorandum filed today in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia is provided by the Blog of Legal Times. The law blog also discusses the memorandum in a post.

Additional coverage:

Associated Press: "Obama admin. to end use of term 'enemy combatant'"

Bloomberg: "Obama Drops ‘Enemy Combatant’ Term for Guantanamo Detainees"

CNN: "U.S. reverses policy, drops 'enemy combatant' term"

Updated at 6:45 p.m. to include information from subsequent New York Times article.