This article was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

WASHINGTON — A retired Navy judge has been named to oversee the military tribunals at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, filling a job that has lacked a permanent occupant since his predecessor was dismissed last year after discussing plea deals with defense lawyers in the Sept. 11 and the destroyer Cole cases.

The acting secretary of defense, Patrick Shanahan, appointed the retired judge, Christian L. Reismeier, to the civilian job — officially known as the convening authority for military commissions — last week and the Pentagon announced the decision on Tuesday. Mr. Reismeier, who retired as a one-star admiral in 2015, was spotted last week at Military Commissions headquarters in Alexandria, Va.

The job includes negotiating plea deals with defense lawyers, approving proposed cases, deciding whether prosecutors can seek the death penalty and funding trial and defense teams. The job’s responsibilities have been carried out since early last year on an interim basis by two lower-level officials.

Mr. Reismeier is taking over more than 15 years after the Pentagon named the first overseer of a tribunal system at Guantánamo Bay — set up after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks — with no major Qaeda prosecution yet carried out.