Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartman, U.S. Air Force, announces that charges have been sworn against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi national of Yemeni descent during a press briefing in the Pentagon on June 30, 2008. The charges allege that al-Nashiri, an al-Qa'ida operative, participated in the planning and preparation for the Oct. 12, 2000, attack on the destroyer USS Cole (DDG 67) that killed 17 sailors and wounded 47 others. The Convening Authority, Susan J. Crawford, will now review the charges and decide to refer some, all, or none of them to trial by military commission. These are the first charges to be brought from the investigation into the Cole bombing. Hartman is the legal advisor to the convening authority for the Office of Military Commissions.