 In 2003, he was nominated for promotion from rear admiral (lower half) to rear admiral.On July 9, 2004, when McGarrah was a rear admiral, the Secretary of the Navy, Gordon R. England, appointed him the Director of the Office for the Administrative Review of the Detention of Enemy Combatants (OARDEC).McGarrah testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRT), held in the Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba, from July 2004 to March 2005.