The 9/11 military tribunal in Guantánamo Bay was adjourned until June on Thursday, derailed by an attempt by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to turn a classification specialist on the defendants’ legal teams into an informant.



The judge in the case, Army Colonel James Pohl, said he was considering appointing independent lawyers for defendants Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Ramzi bin al-Shibh to advise them of possible conflicts between their defense teams’ ability to represent them, and the lawyers' interest in defending themselves against an apparent FBI investigation.

Barring yet another unexpected development, it is likely that Pohl will take up the question of the defense teams’ exposure to the FBI when the pretrial 9/11 hearings reconvene in June. The issue this week crowded out progress in the voluminous hearings, casting doubt on the commission’s ability to proceed to jury selection as planned in January.

On 6 April, two FBI agents approached a classification adviser for Bin al-Shibh’s defense team and compelled him to sign a document, along with a nondisclosure agreement, indicating an ongoing role informing on the legal team.

At issue was the release of an unclassified manifesto penned by Mohammed. On 20 December, the chief prosecutor in the case, Brigadier General Mark Martins, provided the document to an FBI agent on his team, but it is unclear if that sparked any investigation.

Martins and his team have unequivocally denied knowledge of any interaction between the FBI and the defense.

In court on Thursday, Pohl ordered any nondisclosure orders on the classification specialist or any others lifted, freeing anyone on the defense teams contacted by US law enforcement to give court testimony. Lawyers for two 9/11 defendants suggested that the FBI contacted other members of the defense teams, but did not provide evidence for the intimation.

It is unclear if the FBI, which has declined comment, is conducting an ongoing investigation into the 9/11 defense teams.

On Wednesday evening, Martins appointed a new lawyer from the Justice Department, Fernando Campoamour-Sanchez, to represent the prosecutions’ interest in the unfolding legal proceedings over the FBI penetration of the defense.

The defense seeks testimony from four FBI officials, including the two agents who approached the classification specialist, and Joanna Baltes, the chief of staff to the deputy FBI director who is detailed to the prosecution. Campoamour-Sanchez received until Monday to issue a response to the defense’s request.

Martins expressed optimism that jury selection in the 9/11 tribunal can proceed along his desired January timeline and said he remained “prepared for a marathon”.

This week’s tribunal hearings were the first since December in the 9/11 case. The prosecution had planned to call the commander of Guantánamo's most secretive detention camp to testify about the competency of Bin al-Shibh to understand the proceedings, but Pohl quickly ruled that Bin al-Shibh was competent and focused the remainder of the court’s attention on the FBI controversy.

No other pretrial questions were resolved.

Ten family members of the 9/11 victims who attended this week’s round of hearings expressed anger and frustration at the lack of progress. They blasted the FBI involvement as an attempt at sabotaging the proceedings, and claimed the defense counsel was disrespecting the memories of their relatives by filing a large array of motions that may delay the actual trial.