{"id":33104,"date":"2019-02-10T02:31:55","date_gmt":"2019-02-10T02:31:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/02\/10\/legal-bombshells-explode-on-two-seal-war-crimes-cases\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:22:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:22:45","slug":"legal-bombshells-explode-on-two-seal-war-crimes-cases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2019\/02\/10\/legal-bombshells-explode-on-two-seal-war-crimes-cases\/","title":{"rendered":"New legal bombshells explode on two Navy SEAL war crimes cases"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Chief Special Warfare Operator Edward \u201cEddie\u201d Gallagher<\/a> not only stabbed to death a teenage wounded Islamic State prisoner of war<\/a> during a 2017 deployment to Iraq, according to an officer in his chain of command, but the SEAL also called in \u201cfalse target coordinates to engage a mosque,” tried to push his platoon into pointless and potentially catastrophic firefights with insurgents and became so mentally unstable that he should\u2019ve been relieved from duty but wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those allegations are contained in a proffer from the officer sent to military officials on Wednesday seeking immunity from prosecution<\/a> in the sprawling war crimes case roiling California-based SEAL Team 7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Proffers are legal documents that outline what potential witnesses will say on the stand in a court-martial trial in exchange for immunity from prosecution for crimes they also might\u2019ve committed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Military prosecutors have charged Gallagher with killing the Islamic State detainee on May 3, 2017, shooting at innocent civilians with his sniper rifle<\/a> at other times and later attempting to coerce potential witnesses to conceal his alleged war crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His commanding officer at SEAL Team 7\u2032s Alpha Platoon outside Mosul in mid-2017, Lt. Jacob X. \u201cJake\u201d Portier<\/a>, also faces a raft of charges for allegedly trying to conceal his chief\u2019s crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to copies of the documents obtained by Navy Times, Wednesday\u2019s proffer and another drafted on Jan. 17 for a senior enlisted leader in SEAL Group 1 not only divulge new allegations against Gallagher and Portier, but they also question how eager several of their superiors at Navy Special Warfare were at probing the war crime accusations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copies of federal search warrants also obtained by Navy Times show investigators have been tracing electronic communications across the SEAL community and have seized cellphones of those involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The twin proffers and search warrants are the clearest indications yet that there are active probes into senior enlisted and commissioned SEALs, a potentially damning indictment of the culture of the usually tight-knit community of clandestine commandos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The seriously wounded Islamic State fighter, believed to be between 15 and 17 years of age, military prosecutors believe was murdered by a Navy SEAL. (screen shot of YouTube video used as evidence in criminal hearing)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Because these witnesses are expected to return to operational SEAL teams, military officials have asked Navy Times to continue its policy of not printing their names or disclosing information that could identify them to overseas terrorists who would put them or their families at risk of harm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Navy Times also has agreed to not publish information that could compromise tactical secrets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officials at California-based Naval Special Warfare Command and Navy Region Southwest either declined to comment or didn\u2019t return multiple messages from Navy Times seeking comment over the span of two days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his proffer request submitted on Wednesday to military prosecutors at Region Legal Service Office Southwest<\/a>, a lieutenant who served as Alpha Platoon\u2019s Assistant Officer in Charge \u2014 or AOIC \u2014 indicated he\u2019s prepared to deliver some of the most damaging testimony to both Gallagher and Portier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Written by Michael Hanzel,<\/a> a former Navy attorney now in private practice specializing in military cases, the lieutenant\u2019s proffer indicates he believes senior leaders failed to take action against Gallagher because of their close links to the chief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Portier was Gallagher\u2019s student going through SEAL BUD\/s training<\/a>. Their troop commander, Lt. Cmdr. Robert Breisch, was a prior-enlisted sailor who became an officer \u2014 a \u201cmustang\u201d \u2014 who also had worked closely with Gallagher. And a SEAL command master chief in a deploying team also had known Gallagher before he rose to his position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his proffer, the AOIC stated he \u201cfelt chilled in talking to his chain of command at the team\u201d about Gallagher and Portier because problems he \u201craised were either heard and not acted upon or completely disregarded.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the AOIC\u2019s first combat tour as a SEAL and \u201calthough he invested a lot of faith and trust in his leadership to guide him and do the right thing, ultimately the message he got back was that no one wanted to hear what he had to say or heard it and tried to contain the information from being released,\u201d he told prosecutors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the AOIC\u2019s proffer seeks blanket immunity from any future prosecution in exchange for his testimony, his attorney Hanzel said he was motivated to come forward \u201cbecause he\u2019s trying to do the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a SEAL for the right reasons and he wants to remain a SEAL,\u201d said Hanzel. \u201cHe never expected to get caught up in this and he fears retaliation if he tells the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of Gallagher\u2019s civilian attorneys, Phillip Stackhouse, cautioned that the legal significance of the AOIC\u2019s proffer request could dissipate significantly once he\u2019s under oath, even if he\u2019s been granted immunity from future prosecution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf he lies during a proffer session, he could be prosecuted for it,\u201d said Stackhouse. \u201cThe statement he makes also can be used to impeach him.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stackhouse continues to insist his investigation will show that Gallagher committed no crime and a panel of the SEAL\u2019s peers will agree with him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the AOIC\u2019s proffer request detailed concerns he raised about Gallagher\u2019s fitness for duty before, during and after the 2017 deployment to Iraq, his narrative indicates his relationships with both the chief and Portier became increasingly strained as time marched on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Initially, many of the AOIC\u2019s concerns stemmed from a growing belief that Gallagher was exercising poor judgement that could pointlessly get SEALs killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At one point, Gallagher told him that Alpha Platoon needed to find Islamic State elements and get in \u201cone good TIC\u201d (Troops in Contact, the direct and violent engagement with an enemy), \u201cone where you need to focus on your field of fire or else you could take (a bullet) to the side of the head,\u201d according to the proffer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AOIC told Gallagher this sort of training by fire \u201cwas extremely unnecessary\u201d but Gallagher shot back that his SEALs were \u201call a bunch of pussies,” the document states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AOIC told prosecutors he had come to believe Gallagher was \u201cgoing to put the platoon in extreme danger\u201d and an unassertive Portier would do too little to stop him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said he became so alarmed by Gallagher that he began to examine the plans of every operation \u201cin order to mitigate the risks, and tried to go out on every operation he could to make sure that the lives of his teammates weren\u2019t being unnecessarily jeopardized.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Special Operations Chief Edward “Eddie” Gallagher, a highly decorated Navy SEAL, is fighting murder charges tied to the death of an Islamic State operative in Iraq. (photos provided)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The AOIC indicated he\u2019s willing to testify about a raid Gallagher proposed in July 2017 that involved \u201cshooting people under the bridge.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AOIC told prosecutors he interjected because of flaws in the plan, including a non-existent goal to achieve by the attack, the lack of reasons for gunning down the people under the bridge and the failure to include contingency options if they got pinned down on the riverbank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AOIC \u201cstressed that this was putting their platoon in an extremely vulnerable position for a mission that was not even authorized,\u201d an argument that ended not only the conversation but the proposed raid, according to the proffer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AOIC was so worried about Gallagher that he made it his bedtime ritual to practice calling in MEDEVACs<\/a>, which front-line troops call \u201c9-Lines” to brief inbound helicopters that medically evacuate wounded personnel, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AOIC said he stressed the rules of engagement handed down from superiors to Alpha Platoon, regulations designed to prevent the killing of civilians, but this \u201csparked aggression\u201d from Gallagher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Iraqi government forces drew closer to liberating Mosul from the Islamic State in July 2017, he recalled watching ISR footage \u2014 an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance feed, often shot with a drone aircraft \u2014 with Gallagher and other SEALs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It showed female Islamic State fighters ambushing Iraqi troops in a bloody last stand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AOIC said he is prepared to testify that Gallagher got in his \u201cface and said, \u2018See, I told you! They\u2019re all ISIS.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Mosul fell to Iraqi forces, the AOIC recollected a conversation he had with the lead petty officer in the SEAL platoon and Gallagher about why they joined the Navy. The SO1 and the AOIC said they put on the uniform due to \u201cloving their country and trying to live by the SEAL ethos,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Gallagher \u201csaid that he didn\u2019t believe in any of that, and that he joined the military so he could get the chance to kill someone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AOIC said that triggered another round of discussions with Portier about relieving Gallagher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AOIC told prosecutors he\u2019s prepared to testify about another incident that occurred in a safe house in northern Iraq in which Gallagher asked \u201chow easy it would be to kill someone back home\u201d and if he \u201ccould get away with it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AOIC said he was \u201cshocked that SOC Gallagher would say this and believes most of the people there were shocked as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tension dissipated when someone joked \u201cit would be pretty hard nowadays with technology and security cameras,” the AOIC indicated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A member of the Iraqi federal police awaits his next movement on the streets of the recently secured airport during the offensive to liberate West Mosul, Iraq, March 2, 2017. The breadth and diversity of partners supporting the Coalition demonstrate the global and unified nature of the endeavor to defeat ISIS. Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve is the global Coalition to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Jason Hull)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the final sentence of his proffer, the AOIC directly accused Portier of \u201cordering the destruction of video and reports in order to avoid their use as evidence in investigations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AOIC told prosecutors Portier not only knew about many of these incidents, but so did a pair of senior enlisted and commissioned troop leaders who visited Alpha Platoon during the summer of 2017 and continued to interact with the SEAL team after they returned home to California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AOIC recalled driving with Breisch into the western side of Mosul. He said Breisch informed him that Iraqi forces were bringing in another detainee. Breisch ordered him to question the prisoner and offer him food and water, but the detainee was to remain in the official custody of the Iraqis, according to the proffer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the Iraqis yanked the burlap sack off the prisoner\u2019s head, the AOIC saw an elderly, blindfolded man who looked famished and parched. After a few nibbles of food, he told the AOIC that he was a technician who had been imprisoned by the Islamic State to toil at the Mosul Hospital, he recalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in the middle of the interrogation, Gallagher \u201cleaned his back against the wall and pulled out his tomahawk\u201d and began tapping the blade \u201cagainst the cement wall in a threatening manner,” the AOIC alleged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Realizing that the \u201csituation was escalating,\u201d the AOIC said he pulled Breisch and Gallagher together in another room \u201cto diffuse the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It remains unclear in the proffer whether Breisch took any action against Gallagher, but the lieutenant commander left with the chief, according to the AOIC\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AOIC said Breisch\u2019s senior enlisted adviser, the troop chief, also should\u2019ve been on notice about Gallagher\u2019s alleged misconduct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During that visit in the summer of 2017, the AOIC said he was in the mission planning room while Gallagher was giving the troop chief a tour of the building. The AOIC told prosecutors he put Gallagher \u201con the spot and told him to tell (the troop chief) about the detainee\u201d he allegedly stabbed to death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gallagher, the proffer states, \u201cbecame clearly flustered\u201d and muttered something about how \u201cthey were getting that close to insurgents.\u201d Although the AOIC said he wasn\u2019t sure if the troop chief understood that this was a war crime, he thought the senior enlisted leader \u201cwould look into it or at a minimum talk to (Breisch) about it,\u201d but nothing further seemed to come \u201cfrom this notification,\u201daccording to the proffer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
An Iraqi boy stands at the entrance of a destroyed building in the old city of Mosul on March 14, 2018, eight months after the Iraqi government forces retook the city from the control of the Islamic State group. (Ahmad al-Rubaye\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Once the SEAL platoon rotated home in late 2017, rumors continued to swirl throughout the SEAL community in Coronado about Gallagher\u2019s alleged misconduct in Iraq.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AOIC said he was informed that there would be a platoon meeting in Alpha\u2019s highbay (a locker room) and Gallagher would be given the chance to speak to the junior SEALs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said he confronted Portier in the parking lot outside the meeting room and told him \u201cthey needed to do something about SOC Gallagher\u2019s actions instead of giving him a platform to speak.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AOIC said Gallagher suddenly rushed up to them, got in the AOIC\u2019s face and said, \u201cIf you take me down, I will take all of you down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the SEAL powwow, the AOIC said Gallagher sidled over to him to reimburse him for a haircut he bought the chief during the deployment in Iraq. The AOIC refused and looked at Portier and said, \u201cYou know this is not about the money,\u201d according to the proffer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AOIC told prosecutors he later confronted Breisch about the status of a proposed Silver Star award to Gallagher for battlefield valor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AOIC said he told his superior he wasn\u2019t \u201ccomfortable routing the award\u201d because Gallagher\u2019s actions didn\u2019t deserve such a lofty commendation, but Breisch allegedly told him, \u201cKeep your personal feelings to yourself because the command expects this award” and the conversation abruptly ended, according to the proffer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AOIC recalled another talk he had with a SEAL command master chief over beers at the Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Coronado<\/a> in November 2017. It was the command master chief, the AOIC said, who brought up allegations of illicit drug use within Alpha Platoon, but then continued with the more serious accusations dogging Gallagher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the AOIC, the command master chief asked him \u201cif he wanted to get SOC Gallagher in trouble.\u201d The AOIC retorted that Gallagher \u201cneeded serious help because of his current unstable mental state\u201d and the command master chief should discuss this with his superiors, Portier and Gallagher, according to the proffer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AOIC told prosecutors that it was during these weeks after the platoon came home from deployment that Breisch, his troop chief, Gallagher and Portier \u201cwould walk in the room, tell him to leave (sometimes along the lines of \u2018Get out\u2019 or \u2018Get the fuck out\u2019) and have closed door discussions,” sessions he thought \u201cvery unusual from their daily routine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AOIC said in the proffer that these \u201cmeetings lasted over an hour at a time\u201d and occurred \u201cmultiple times.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Mosul’s Old City on Jan. 8, 2018, six months after Iraqi forces seized the country’s second city from ISIS militants. (Ahmad al-Rubaye\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The second proffer submitted to prosecutors on Jan. 17 by Brian Bouffard<\/a>, a Texas-based attorney, on behalf of the troop chief sheds more light on SEAL Team 7\u2032s inner workings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The troop chief indicated he began a series of conversations with Alpha Platoon\u2019s lead petty officer around Christmas in 2017. He remembered rumblings about Gallagher allegedly stealing nutrition bars and beef jerky out of care packages, plus concerns about Gallagher\u2019s leadership raised in the autumn, but the troop chief said he \u201chad heard nothing whatsoever\u201d about alleged war crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During one conversation, the SO1 told him Gallagher also filched sunglasses and money but \u201cit was a lot more than that,\u201d according to the troop chief\u2019s proffer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The troop chief told the SO1 the allegations weren\u2019t enough to derail a looming advancement of Gallagher to senior chief but that his proposed Silver Star already had been yanked, the proffer indicates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was then that the SO1 directly accused Gallagher of stabbing the Islamic State detainee in the neck until he died, the troop chief said. The SO1 told him the platoon members \u201cholding the detainee down jumped back in shock and surprise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cemotional” SO1 called Gallagher \u201ca psychopath\u201d who “should never be in a position to lead and seemed relieved to tell him about the alleged incident, according to the proffer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The troop chief asked him why no one had reported the alleged murder and the SO1 answered that they thought it was pointless because of Gallagher\u2019s close ties to the entire chain of command, not to mention the prospect \u201cabout other people getting in trouble or caught up in things,\u201d the proffer stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The troop chief told prosecutors that after Christmas 2017, several Alpha Platoon members wanted to take their concerns directly to the Group 1 leaders, hurdling the troop chain of command. So he went to see Group 1 Command Master Chief Steve Ward to brief him on the allegations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SEALs never went to Group 1\u2032s commodore, the troop chief told prosecutors, and he and Ward decided it was time to pull Gallagher out of his post-deployment billet training SEALs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his proffer, the troop chief said the SO1 told him Gallagher had begun threatening to harm former Alpha Platoon members and their families. He said that the SO1 believed Gallagher had begun contacting staffers at Naval Special Warfare\u2019s Development Group in Dam Neck, Virginia, about several former Alpha SEALs training there \u201cto harm the careers of these sailors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The troop chief told prosecutors he took the allegations seriously because they came from \u201csolid performers who should be taken seriously\u201d and advised SEAL leaders that the proper venue for the probe now rested with Naval Criminal Investigative Service, not Group 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
In this Nov. 12, 2017, photo, Ghanim Ahmed holds the photo of his son Ghazwan Ahmed, who was taken by unidentified gunmen after their village was liberated from Islamic State militants, in Bijwaniya village, south of Mosul, Iraq. (Felipe Dana\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, the troop chief was leading Gallagher on in early 2018, according to his proffer. He told prosecutors he didn\u2019t want Gallagher to know he was aware of the war crimes allegations, especially that Gallagher \u201cmay have committed a homicide.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By this time, Gallagher had been transferred to Group 1, where he worked as an assistant in the operations section of the training wing. The troop chief had become the senior enlisted adviser for Group 1\u2032s operations department, but he told investigators the training team didn\u2019t fall under his control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That didn\u2019t prevent Gallagher from texting him repeatedly to complain about his former Alpha Platoon SEALs. The troop chief told prosecutors he eventually pulled Gallagher into a classroom and alluded to more serious allegations coming from the SEALs, including the accusation that he murdered the prisoner of war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was then, he said, that Gallagher announced he had killed the wounded detainee \u201cin self-defense,\u201d according to the proffer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The troop chief told prosecutors he was puzzled by Gallagher\u2019s statement. He said SEALs do not consider a knife to be a \u201creasonable or advisable method of killing, given all the other weapons, including grappling and hand-to-hand combat that SEALs are trained to employ.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKnife kills are virtually unheard of in the SEAL community,\u201d the proffer states.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two SEALs offer up damaging testimony against a chief special warfare operator accused of war crimes — and suggest the command did not initially investigate the sprawling allegations of misconduct, new legal documents 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