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Austin Takes Control Over Remaining Sept. 11 Cases

Crime and Justice News

After months of wrangling over the legitimacy of a plea deal in a Sept. 11, 2001, case, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stripped a senior official running the war crimes court of her authority to reach settlements in cases at Guantánamo Bay. Austin’s decision came as government lawyers are trying to nullify a plea agreement in the case. In July, Austin’s appointee in charge of the court, Susan Escallier, approved a settlement reached by prosecutors after years of negotiations. Austin was surprised by it and moved to rescind the deal, saying he strongly believed that the men accused of plotting the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people should face a trial. In a memo obtained by The New York Times, Austin stripped Escallier of the authority to approve deals in the U.S.S. Cole and Bali bombing cases, “effective immediately.” He gave himself the sole power to approve plea deals in the terrorism cases in the final months of the Biden administration.


Austin wanted to make sure “we aren’t surprised by anything for the remainder of the term,” said a senior Defense Department official. It is an uncertain time for the 30 remaining detainees at Guantánamo Bay, a third of whom have been convicted or charged by military commission. Sixteen men at the prison, who have never been charged with crimes, have been approved for transfer to other nations if security arrangements can be made. The Sept. 11 case is in legal limbo as a higher court decides whether Austin had the authority to retroactively cancel the July agreement with the man accused of being the mastermind of the plot, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, and two co-defendants. Each man agreed to plead guilty and waive appeals in exchange for life sentences rather than face a death penalty trial. The case has been in pretrial proceedings since 2012 to resolve questions about the men’s torture in CIA custody and other questions related to national security.

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