James Yee James J . Yee ( Chinese : 余百康 or 余优素福 , also known by the Arabic name Yusuf Yee ) ( born c . 1968 ) is an American former United States Army chaplain with the rank of captain . He is best known for being subject to an intense investigation by the United States , but all charges were later dropped . Yee , a Chinese American , was born in New Jersey and raised in Springfield Township , where he attended Jonathan Dayton High School . Yee graduated from West Point in 1990 . Shortly afterward , he converted from Lutheran Christianity to Islam in 1991 , undergoing religious training in Syria and meeting his wife Huda , a Palestinian , with whom he now has one child . Guantanamo . In his appointed role as chaplain , Yee ministered to Muslim detainees held at Guantánamo Bay detention camp and received commendation from his superiors for his work . When returning from duty at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base , he was arrested on September 10 , 2003 , in Jacksonville , Florida , when a U . S . Customs agent found a list of Guantanamo detainees and interrogators among his belongings . 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 . He was then transferred to a United States Navy brig in Charleston , South Carolina . 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 , with Maj . Gen . Geoffrey Miller " citing national security concerns that would arise from the release of the evidence , " and he was released to resume his duties . Yee was then accused of adultery and storing pornography on a government computer ; and non - judicial punishment under Article 15 , UCMJ was imposed . His appeal to General James T . Hill , Commander , United States Southern Command , was granted in April 2004 . He left the US military with an honorable discharge in January , but he is still seeking an apology . Yee was a sometime supervisor of a former US Air Force Airman , who was subsequently court - martialed for his misconduct , but charges were dropped against him . After Guantanamo . In October 2005 Yee published his book , " For God and Country : Faith and Patriotism Under Fire . " In it , Yee writes that he was kept in solitary confinement for seventy - six days , and that he was forced to undergo sensory deprivation . He also wrote that General Geoffrey Miller routinely incited the guards to hate the detainees . He alleges being told of mistreatment of prisoners . Yee argues that most of the detainees had little or no intelligence value about Osama bin Laden or al - Qaida ' s inner circle : In July 2006 , Yee was stopped at the border while returning from a trip to Vancouver , British Columbia , to see Cirque du Soleil . It was Yee ' s first trip outside the U . S . since he was discharged from the army . He was detained at the border for 75 minutes . Yee commented , " Perhaps this is an indication I ' m still of interest to the federal government . " On October 19 , 2007 , Syrian television broadcast its interview with Yee , in Arabic , where he discussed Koran desecration on the part of the U . S . military . In December 2007 , Yee made a statement on Australian Guantanamo Bay inmate David Hicks , who he regularly counselled while working at Guantanamo Bay . He said that he did not feel Hicks was a threat to Australia , and that " Any American soldier who has been through basic training has had 50 times more training than this guy . " Yee was a delegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention from the 9th Congressional District of the state of Washington , pledged to support Barack Obama , and actually cast a nominating ballot . Yee has spoken about what he witnessed at the U . S . Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay , Cuba , to audiences around the world .