United States Navy

The United States Navy has a limited but consequential presence in the evidence: it is associated with medical care for detainees at Guantánamo and with an investigator who accessed records of Slahi’s interrogation. These references reveal points of contact between military medical and investigative personnel and the detention system, but do not establish a broader Navy policy or institutional role in the interrogation program.

Medical Care at Guantánamo

During a period of worsening treatment, Slahi was sent to a doctor who was an officer in the Navy. The doctor examined him and identified a serious sciatic-nerve condition. Slahi described the physician as decent and humane, distinguishing his conduct from that of the interrogators.

Slahi told the doctor that he was being prevented from taking prescribed medication for back pain and Ensure, which he said was needed to address weight loss. He explained that interrogations were scheduled during the hours when he normally received these supplies, between four and five in the afternoon. The doctor said he could make a recommendation but could not decide the matter himself. Slahi left the clinic with some hope, but reported that his situation worsened.

Perceived Responsibility for Detainee Health

In a later account of medical attention after a transfer, Slahi describes seeing a masked physician in an Army uniform. He wondered why the physician was from the Army when, as Slahi understood it, the Navy was responsible for detainee medical care. This is presented as Slahi’s perception of the division of responsibility, not as an independently established account of military medical administration.

Together, the episodes distinguish individual care from control over the conditions affecting it. A Navy doctor could identify a serious condition and recommend action, but Slahi’s account says he could not determine whether the requested medication and nutritional support would be provided.

Investigative Connection

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service also appears in the account of how evidence about Slahi’s interrogation became available. The investigator assigned to Stuart Couch was an NCIS agent who gained access to military interrogators’ files, including daily memoranda describing what was said during sessions and how information was extracted. The records were classified; their contents were later summarized in public government investigations.

This reference places a naval investigative agent in the chain through which interrogation records were examined. The evidence identifies the agent’s access to the files, but does not show that the United States Navy as an institution directed the interrogation or the subsequent investigations.