[4] At the time of the Hassan Nasr kidnapping, Romano was commander of the 31st Security Forces Squadron stationed in Aviano Air Base near Venice.

On June 27, 2005, he was made subject of a Europe-wide arrest warrant,[6][7] centering on contentions of Italian authorities that he was in charge of security operations during the kidnapping of Nasr in February, 2003.

Among the evidentiary points cited in the warrant, issued by the Tribunale di Milano, were the fact that one of the four subscribed numbers traced by authorities as having transmitted from the scene of the kidnapping to Aviano was "assigned to, owned and used by" Col.

"I have nothing to say," he has said, referring questions about the "alleged incident that I'm supposedly involved in" to Air Force senior leadership and the service's public affairs office.

Reacting to the verdict, Pentagon press secretary Geoff S. Morrell stated "Our view is the Italian court has no jurisdiction over Lieutenant Colonel (Joseph) Romano and should have immediately dismissed the charges.

[17] On April 5, 2013, the President of Italy Giorgio Napolitano accepted Romano's request, discharging him from crimes related to the kidnapping allegations.