Chaplain arrested to protect lives

The Bush administration decided to arrest Army Capt. James J. Yee because it feared he would reveal information that could aid terrorists and endanger the lives of military guards at the Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba, a law-enforcement source said.

Capt. Yee, a Muslim chaplain who counseled al Qaeda and Taliban detainees at a specially constructed prison at the base, was arrested Sept. 10 by the FBI upon arriving in Jacksonville, Fla., on a military charter flight from Guantanamo.

The Washington Times reported Saturday that agents confiscated classified documents in the West Point graduate’s possession and that Capt. Yee was suspected of espionage.

A law-enforcement source said yesterday those papers included a list of detainees and the names of U.S. prison personnel at Guantanamo.

If al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden’s terror network, were to learn the detainees’ identities, it would provide valuable information on the whereabouts of operators who are missing. This information could then allow al Qaeda to change operating methods for fear the detainee provided such information to his American captors, the law- enforcement official said.

The Pentagon has refused news media requests to release the names of the 660 detainees for that very reason.

A list of American personnel at the base in the hands of terrorists could put them and their families in danger, the source told The Times. The source said there was a debate within the administration on whether to arrest Capt. Yee or keep him under surveillance.

The source declined to say which agency advocated the Sept. 10 arrest, but said the order came from “the highest levels.”

“If the list of detainees got out, then you have a whole lot of al Qaeda cells go to ground,” a senior Bush administration official said yesterday. This source said the Pentagon pushed to make the arrest and said the White House was involved in the decision.

The official said one document in Capt. Yee’s possession was a drawing showing where certain prisoners and American personnel were located.

The official said the case was “extremely sensitive. Nobody wants to create the impression we listen to clergy while administering to the flock. But this guy warranted attention.”

Capt. Yee, 35, graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1990 and attended artillery school to became a Patriot missile battery officer. Raised as a Lutheran in New Jersey, he converted to Islam while in the Army. He resigned his commission and traveled to Damascus, Syria, where he enrolled in traditional Islamic classes and learned Arabic.

Also known as Yousef, he returned to the United States and rejoined the Army as a chaplain, assigned to the 1st Corps at Fort Lewis, Wash. In November, the Army sent him to Guantanamo to counsel Muslim inmates.

The Bush official disputed statements from some outside intelligence analysts that the United States put Capt. Yee under surveillance from the moment he returned to the Army.

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