USNA Grad Does His Job

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USNA69

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Jun 15, 2006
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Two years ago, A USNA grad JAG officer was assigned a client. He defended this client, as he was duty bound to do, to the best of his ability. He won his case. As a reward for his victory for American values, he was passed over for promotion and will be forced to leave the Navy. His client was the driver for Osama bin Laden. His opponent was the President of the United States who, along with the Attorney General, had pushed through the Military Commisions Act. The Supreme Court ruled the Act unconstitutional.
Lcdr Charles Swift was screwed.
 
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I'm not sure this is such a sad story to be honest. Yes, his Navy career is ruined, but with a win like that on his resume I would venture to guess that he would be highly sought after by many legal firms around the US. I would imagine in the long run he will get the last laugh.

Now I think this guy enjoyed the military and wanted to be a career officer so that part does stink for him.
 
I'm sure you are correct. He will never go hungry. However, I am embrarassed that MY Navy succumbed to political pressure and did not do the right thing.
 
Are we certain that's the reason he was passed over?
 
Zaphod said:
Are we certain that's the reason he was passed over?
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Good point. Of course, we will never know for sure. He has not accused the Navy for passing him over for this reason. It is just an amazing coincidence.
Several of his ex-bosses have said that they gave him outstanding marks, that he was a superb JAG officer. One did say that he had spent his entire career in the courtroom and did not have the broad experience level normally associated with an O-5. He did get listed in the National Law Review as one of the 100 most outstanding attorneys in the nation. However, considering how promotion boards work, again, we will never know for sure.
 
LCDR Charles Swift was passed over for promotion twice. The first time was shortly after he rejected the governments request (order?) to secure a guilty plea from his client. After Swift met with his client he made the ethical/moral decision that his client deserved a defense.
The second time he was passed over for promotion was shortly after he took his boss (Commander in Chief) to the US Supreme Court and won.
He was clearly competent and did his job well - some say too well.

I have to take issue with USNA69's claim that the Navy did this to him. If he had been Army or AF he would have met the same fate. I am pretty sure the decision not to promote came from higher than the Navy.

KP2001 is correct that his legal career is not ruined. Swift will prosper quite well as a civilian. However, he would have prosperd quite well these past 12 years as a civilian - he chose to return to the Navy and serve his country. I do think it is a shame that while we claim we want the "best and the brightest" serving our country we are quick to dismiss them when they perform their job "too well".

Here is a link to the Miami Herald article that broke the story:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/front/15704858.htm
 
Just_A_Mom said:
I have to take issue with USNA69's claim that the Navy did this to him. If he had been Army or AF he would have met the same fate. I am pretty sure the decision not to promote came from higher than the Navy.
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The Navy, allowed it to happen. They could have stood up for what they felt was right. Like you, I am almost sure that the "guidance" came from higher authority.
 
I must agree with USNA69 that it is a shame that "our" Navy has allowed this to happen. (I am just going to assume that the reason he was passed over was his work on this case, and not some other issues that as noted we might not know about). It would have been nice to know that the Navy would stand up for you for doing your job, even if it wasn't the popular stance.

The one question I do have now that I think about it is was it really do to his case and if so how was the pressure to pass him over put on the promotion board. Promotion boards are their own world to say the least though.
 
kp2001,
The promotions board is far from the final say on promotions. The list is passed up via SecNav, CNO, SecDef, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Senate, and then to the President, each of whom can return it for modifications. Cdr. Lippold, CO of the USS Cole, was not approved by the Senate when recommended for promotion in 2002, supposidly due to Sen Warner's insistence. Since then, he has annually been removed from the list by the SecNav.
 
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