Save the date - September 20, 2008.

The 7th annual Filipov Forum speaker will be:

James Yee

Mr. Yee, a Chinese American, was born in New Jersey and graduated from West Point in 1990. Shortly afterward, he converted from Christianity to Islam in 1991.

In his appointed role as U.S. Army chaplain, Yee ministered to Muslim detainees held at Guantanamo Bay Naval base. Yee was awarded two distinguished service medals for his work there.

When returning from duty at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, he was arrested on September 10, 2003.  He was charged with five offenses: sedition, aiding the enemy, spying, espionage, and failure to obey a general order.

These charges were later reduced to mishandling classified information in addition to some minor charges. The government did not name the country or entity for whom it suspected Yee was spying.

All court-martial charges against Yee were dropped on March 19, 2004. Yee left the US military with an honorable discharge in January.

In October 2005 Yee published his book, For God and Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire. In it, Yee writes about his experiences.

Check back here in the spring for more details on the September 20, 2008 forum event featuring James Yee.

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