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DOJ: FBI probe not about KSM manifesto

An FBI investigation that roiled military commission proceedings at Guantanamo Bay last week is not exploring the disclosure a 36-page manifesto of alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, according to a new legal filing.

Defense lawyers complained that the FBI interviewed a classification specialist assigned to work with the defense, asking him to complete a nondisclosure agreement and essentially become an informant for the government. Defense attorneys said the action disrupted their attorney-client relationship and might require defense counsel to leave the case for ethical reasons.

A Justice Department attorney assigned to look into the matter separate from the team prosecuting Mohammed and four other men in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks said in a filing Monday that the probe doesn't pertain to releases of Mohammed's writings, such as the publication of the so-called manifesto in The Huffington Post in January.

"Contrary to the apparent belief of defense counsel ... and the Commission [meaning the military judge], the FBI Preliminary Investigation does not pertain to the disclosure of Mr. Mohammad's written communications to third parties," Fernando Campoamor-Sanchez of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington wrote in the new submission (posted here).

The government lawyer did not say publicly, however, what the investigation was about. He said the subject is classified and he submitted a filing with more details on an ex parte basis, meaning only the judge will review it.

It's unclear whether the assurance that the probe doesn't relate to Mohammed's writings will minimize the defense's concerns about what they portrayed as an FBI effort to open up a back channel into private defense communications.