Phil Carter

Carter attended the University of California, Los Angeles, earning a Bachelor's Degree there in 1997, and his Juris Doctor in 2004. Carter also received the Harry S. Truman Scholarship in 1996.

Carter practiced law as an associate at McKenna Long & Aldridge, first in Los Angeles, and later in New York City.{{Cite journal |url=http://www.mckennalong.com/attorney-profile-781.html |title=Biography |publisher=McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP |accessdate=March 10, 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090306063205/http://www.mckennalong.com/attorney-profile-781.html |archivedate=March 6, 2009 }}

He specialized in government contracts and national security law there, including representation of leading defense and aerospace contractors.

He contributed to amicus briefs for FAIR v. Rumsfeld and Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. Carter took a leave of absence from his law firm in 2005–06, after being called to active duty by the Army, to serve in Iraq.

In June 2008, Carter took a leave of absence to join the Barack Obama campaign as its national veterans director.{{cite news

| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/28/us/28soldier.html?pagewanted=all

| newspaper=New York Times

| date=October 28, 2008

| title=Back From War, and Increasingly Into the Political Fray

| accessdate=March 10, 2009

| author=Damien Cave

}} He returned to his position at McKenna Long & Aldridge in 2010{{cite web |url=http://www.mckennalong.com/professionals-1272.html |title=Phillip Carter McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP |date= |accessdate=April 5, 2011}}{{cite web |url=http://www.mckennalong.com/news-1644.html |title=McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP Welcomes Back Phillip Carter To Its Top Tier Government Contracts Practice |date= |accessdate=July 13, 2011}} after resigning as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Policy.

In 2011, Carter left McKenna to join Caerus Associates, a strategy and design consulting firm in Arlington, Virginia, as the company's Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel.{{citation|url=http://caerusassociates.com/team/phillip-carter/|title=Phillip Carter bio|publisher=Caerus Associates|accessdate=May 28, 2012|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107230421/http://caerusassociates.com/team/phillip-carter/|archivedate=November 7, 2012}}

In 2013, Carter left Caerus to join CNAS, a defense policy think tank in Washington, as senior fellow and counsel. At CNAS, Carter directed the Military, Veterans, and Society research program, and also served as the think tank's counsel. In 2018, Carter left CNAS to join the RAND Corporation, where he directed RAND's personnel and resources research program for the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center, the federally-funded research and development center (FFRDC) that supports the Department of Homeland Security.

In 2020, Carter left RAND to practice law as senior corporate counsel for Tableau, a Salesforce company, where he worked from 2020 to 2023. He now serves as corporate counsel for Google, supporting Google's public sector business. In addition to this work, Carter also teaches at Georgetown University Law Center as an adjunct professor.

He wrote the "Intel Dump" blog beginning in 2002. In 2008, he began writing this blog for The Washington Post, and edited the Convictions legal blog for Slate magazine.

{{cite news

| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/18/AR2009021803149.html

| title=Until We Have a Playoff System, Bush Is Stuck at No. 36

| date=February 19, 2009

| author=Al Kamen

| author-link=Al Kamen

| newspaper=Washington Post

| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110204194651/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/18/AR2009021803149.html

| url-status=live

| archivedate=February 4, 2011

}}

{{cite news

| url=http://blog.washingtonpost.com/inteldump/2008/04/about_phillip_carter.html

| date=April 4, 2008

| title=About Phillip Carter

| newspaper=Washington Post

| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724151221/http://blog.washingtonpost.com/inteldump/2008/04/about_phillip_carter.html

| url-status=live

| archivedate=July 24, 2008

}}

Carter's articles have appeared in many other publications, including the New York Times, Washington Monthly, Wall Street Journal, and Chicago Tribune. In 2006, he won an award (with Dahlia Lithwick and Emily Bazelon) for a feature on torture that appeared in Slate.{{Cite journal|url=http://www.slate.com/id/2078017/#awards|title=Awards|journal=Slate|date=February 12, 2003|publisher=Slate.com|accessdate=March 10, 2009}}

In November 2020, Carter was named a volunteer member of the Joe Biden presidential transition Agency Review Team to support transition efforts related to the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.{{cite web |title=Agency Review Teams |url=https://buildbackbetter.com/the-transition/agency-review-teams/ |website=President-Elect Joe Biden |accessdate=November 10, 2020}}

Carter served on active and reserve duty for nine years in the U.S. Army as a Military Police and Civil Affairs officer. He served from 1997 to 2001, including assignments in Korea, Texas and the Mojave Desert. From October 2005 to September 2006, he was an embedded adviser with the Iraqi police in Baqubah, the capital of Iraq's Diyala province.

{{cite news

| title=Pentagon Memo — After Campaign Push, Obama Cultivates Military

| newspaper=New York Times

| author=Elizabeth Bumiller

| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/31/us/politics/31memo.html

| accessdate=March 10, 2009

| date=January 30, 2009

}}

His team's work was profiled by The Wall Street Journal in a June 13, 2006, front-page story, and by NPR as well.

The Washington Post reported in February 2009 that Carter was slated to be the new Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs, following speculation on Pentagon blogs about his appointment.

{{cite magazine

| url=http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/02/18/names_pentagon

| title=Names: Pentagon

| date=February 18, 2009

| magazine=Foreign Policy

| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090425031120/http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/02/18/names_pentagon

| url-status=live

| archivedate=April 25, 2009

}}

{{cite news

| url=http://washingtonindependent.com/30684/more-counterinsurgents-join-the-obama-pentagon

| title=More Counterinsurgents Join the Obama Pentagon

| author=Spencer Ackerman

| date=February 18, 2009

| accessdate=March 10, 2009

| publisher=The Washington Independent

| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090709065922/http://washingtonindependent.com/30684/more-counterinsurgents-join-the-obama-pentagon

| url-status=live

| archivedate=July 9, 2009

}} The Pentagon formally announced Carter's appointment on May 6, 2009.{{Cite web|url=https://www.defense.gov/|title=U.S. Department of Defense|website=U.S. Department of Defense}}

Carter was the fourth official to be appointed to this post, replacing career diplomat Sandra Hodgkinson.

In November 2009 Carter announced his resignation, effective in December 2009, for personal reasons.

{{cite news

| url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB125910765578263219?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLTopStories

| title=Point Man on Detainees Quits

| newspaper=Wall Street Journal

| date=November 24, 2009

| first = Jess

| last = Bravin

| author-link=Jess Bravin

| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110205013325/http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125910765578263219.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLTopStories

| url-status=live

| archivedate=February 5, 2011

}}

The exact date he submitted his resignation was not made public.

{{cite news

| url=http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking-news/story/1350400.html

| title=Detainee policy appointee quits Pentagon post

| newspaper=Miami Herald

| date=November 24, 2009

| author=Carol Rosenberg

| author-link=Carol Rosenberg

| archiveurl=https://archive.today/20240524190607/https://www.webcitation.org/5lXNKTfnx?url=http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking-news/story/1350400.html

| url-status=dead

| archivedate=May 24, 2024

}}

In his position, he traveled frequently to Guantanamo Bay, Iraq and Afghanistan. Carter was the chief architect of the Obama administration plan to close Guantanamo Bay, and bring detainees to a maximum security prison in Northwest Illinois. His last official trip was to Thomson, Illinois, the site of a prison the Obama administration has decided to use to house some captives currently held in detention in Guantanamo, in Cuba.

{{Reflist}}

• [http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/10413 Video (and audio) conversation/debate with Carter and Eli Lake] on Bloggingheads.tv

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Phillip E.}}

Category:Living people

Category:United States Department of Defense officials

Category:New York (state) lawyers

Category:United States Army officers

Category:United States Army personnel of the Iraq War

Category:Civil affairs of the United States military

Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni

Category:UCLA School of Law alumni

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)