Eric Kaniut

Captain Eric Kaniut is an officer in the United States Navy.:

Kaniut is notable for holding a supervisory post in the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants, supervising the first annual Administrative Review Board hearing.

Initially the Bush Presidency had ruled that the Department Of Defense was not obliged to provide any opportunity for the Guantanamo captives to learn, and attempt to refute, the allegations used to justify their continued extrajudicial detention.

One of The Effects of the United States Supreme Court's ruling in Rasul v. Bush was that the DoD had to provide an opportunity for the captives to learn and respond to the allegations against them. The one-time Combatant Status Review Tribunals and the Administrative Review Boards were the "administrative procedures" the DoD designed to fulfill the Supreme Court's requirement.

Kaniut is described as holding a supervisory position over the Tribunals and Board hearings. According to the International Herald Tribune Kaniut asserted:

One critic responded to Kaniut's description that the Tribunals and Boards were "just like a parole board" by asking.

According to The New Republic, Kaniut asserted that the protections these procedures provided were "unprecedented".

More than half the captives declined to attend their Administrative Review Board hearings. When asked to explain the lack of participation Kaniut attributed it to the captive's cynicism.