The Pentagon official who drew outrage from the legal community for his Jan. 11 comments, in which he suggested some lawyers were being untruthful about doing work for terrorism suspects free of charge and instead were “receiving moneys from who knows where” has resigned.

A senior Pentagon official resigned Friday over remarks in which he criticized lawyers who represent terrorism suspects, the Defense Department said.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Charles “Cully” Stimson, deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs, told him he had made his own decision to resign and was not asked to leave by Defense Secretary Robert Gates.