Vindicating a Marine Whistleblower Who Warned Fellow Marines
About a Taliban Ally and Child Rapist
Major Jason Brezler was being wrongfully separated from the Marine Corps after warning fellow Marines about a corrupt Afghan police chief abusing boys. We secured an unprecedented Federal Court decision vacating the military tribunal’s order and then won the retrial to ensure Brezler could continue to serve.
“I am grateful beyond words for the opportunity to once again serve as a United States Marine.”
Major Jason Brezler, U.S.M.C.R.
“The case has become a cause célèbre among some members of Congress, generals, and veterans, including retired Marine General John F. Kelly, President Trump’s former chief of staff, and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. It has brought attention to the use of teen boys as “sex slaves” by some senior Afghan leaders.”
The Washington Post
“This is the right decision. Major Brezler is a hero who risked his career to save the lives of his fellow Marines. Jason’s case never should have gotten this far, but I am relieved justice was done.”
Congressman Peter King
U.S. Marine Corps Major Jason Brezler took action to protect his fellow Marines and assist a Gold Star family and got punished for exposing the truth. Facing separation from the Marine Corps after a Board of Inquiry, we secured an unprecedented decision from a federal judge vacating the military tribunal’s order and mandating a new trial. We retried the matter and secured a decision against separation.
Brezler was forced out of the Corps after using his personal email to warn fellow Marines about Sarwar Jan—a corrupt Afghan police chief linked to the Taliban and accused of abusing boys. Brezler’s warning went unheeded. Seventeen days later, one of Jan’s underage servants murdered three unarmed Marines.
When Brezler exercised his legally protected right to inform his congressman of the Marine Corps’ failures to assist the congressman’s efforts to answer questions from the Gold Star families of the murdered Marines, the military retaliated. It convened a hurried Board of Inquiry stacked against Brezler that ultimately directed that he be separated from the Marine Corps. We then took the case and challenged that decision in federal court in an unprecedented application of the Administrative Procedures Act. We secured a decision vacating the separation order because the Navy had withheld material evidence.
On remand, we forced production of previously undisclosed documents revealing the tainted effort to silence Brezler. On retrial, we convinced the tribunal that Brezler should be retained based on that evidence and the testimony of numerous witnesses, including Michael Bowe’s dramatic cross-examination of Lt. Gen. Richard Mills and the pivotal direct testimony of Lt. General John Kelly and Brezler himself. The case has been touted as groundbreaking by experts in military justice.