The memo was signed by former Defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld on December 2, 2002. It was written by William “Jim” Haynes II, the former general counsel of the U.S. Department of Defense. Haynes released the memo in 2004.
According to Sands, Haynes has said in his public statements that the push for extreme interrogation procedures came from low-level military officers at Guantánamo. In particular, Haynes has maintained that the request to use the aggressive techniques came from Major General Mike Dunlavey, a judge and Army reserve officer who was then in charge of the interrogation unit at Guantánamo. For legal support, Haynes has said that he relied on an opinion written by Lieutenant Colonel Diane Beaver, the military lawyer assigned to Dunlavey’s unit.
