Barry Wingard

Military career

Wingard's original military service was an enlisted soldier in the United States Army. Wingard is an Iraq War Veteran. He served fifteen years in the United States Army, prior to getting a law degree and joining the United States Air Force.

Legal career

In civilian life Wingard is a public defender in Allegheny County Pittsburgh.

Lieutenant Colonel Wingard is serving as one of the attorneys for Kuwaiti detainee in Guantanamo Fayiz Al Kandari who was charged before a Guantanamo military commission in 2008.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette described Wingard and Darrel Vandeveld as "...among a handful of military attorneys who have chosen to risk their careers by publicly voicing criticisms of the Military Commissions, which face an uncertain future."

On September 30, 2012, Lillian Thomas, writing in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, wrote that, paradoxically, when the Office of Military Commissions suddenly dropped all charges against Faiz al Kandari, it made it more difficult for Wingard to work on his behalf.

Thomas pointed out that Wingard could no longer travel to Kuwait to seek exculpatory evidence, he would no longer be provided with government translators. Guantanamo authorities have arbitrarily cancelled visits to Guantanamo for client-attorney interviews. And his correspondence with his client is no longer protected from censors' scrutiny.