Afghanistan War Commission Appoints General Counsel
August 2, 2023
The bipartisan leadership of the Afghanistan War Commission, Co-Chairs Shamila N. Chaudhary and Dr. Colin F. Jackson, today announced the appointment of Julie Martin as General Counsel.
The Commission was established by the FY 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to conduct a comprehensive review of key strategic, diplomatic, and operational decisions related to the war in Afghanistan from June 2001 to August 2021 in order to craft “lessons learned and recommendations for the way forward that will inform future decisions by Congress and policymakers throughout the United States Government.”
“Ms. Martin's deep legal experience across U.S. national security and foreign policy will prove invaluable to the Commission’s mandate,” said Commission Co-Chair Shamila N. Chaudhary. "Her expertise and superb professional judgement will aid the Commission's engagement with institutions across U.S. government and inform the Commission's oversight work on the U.S. intervention in Afghanistan."
Commission Co-Chair Dr. Colin F. Jackson said, “Ms. Martin brings a unique blend of experience at the State Department, in a war zone as an Embassy legal advisor, and in the Intelligence Community. Her insights and experience tackling challenging legal issues from civil liberties to human rights law, counterterrorism, and law of armed conflict will greatly benefit the work of the Commission.”
Ms. Martin brings a wealth of experience to the Commission, having served as counsel in a wide variety of issue areas pertaining to foreign policy, intelligence, and the law of armed conflict throughout her U.S. government career. Most recently, she served as a deputy general counsel with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, where she led practice groups supporting the National Counterterrorism and National Counterproliferation and Biosecurity Centers, the Chief Operating Officer, and the Directorate of Policy and Capabilities. Prior to joining the ODNI, Ms. Martin served for 10 years with the Department of State Office of the Legal Adviser, including as the in-country legal advisor to U.S. Embassy Baghdad. Earlier in her career, Ms. Martin was a law clerk with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.
Background
In FY 2022, a bipartisan group of members of the U.S. Congress from majority and minority leadership and various committees (Foreign Affairs; Intelligence; Armed Services) appointed the following sixteen commissioners to the Commission:
Dr. Anand Gopal
Luke Hartig
Dr. Seth Jones
Hon. Michael Lumpkin
Laurel Miller
LTC Chris Molino (ret.)
Gov. Bob Taft
Dr. Andrew Wilder
Shamila N. Chaudhary, Co-Chair
Dr. Colin F. Jackson, Co-Chair
Michael Allen
LTG Robert Ashley (ret.)
Jeremy Bash
Amb. Ryan Crocker
Jeffrey Dressler
Daniel Fata
Click here to read biographies of the Commissioners.
Click here to read the full text of Sec. 1094 of the FY22 NDAA establishing the Commission.
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Media queries and meeting requests should be directed to Harris Samad: awc@awc.senate.gov