After months of wrangling over the legitimacy of a plea deal in the Sept. 11 case, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III has stripped a senior official running the war crimes court of her authority to reach settlements in any cases at Guantánamo Bay.
Mr. Austin’s decision comes as government lawyers are trying to nullify a plea agreement in the Sept. 11, 2001, case.
On July 31, Mr. Austin’s appointee in charge of the court, Susan K. Escallier, approved a settlement that was reached by prosecutors across years of negotiations. But Mr. Austin said he 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.
Now, in a memo dated Monday and obtained by The New York Times, Mr. Austin stripped Ms. Escallier of the authority to approve deals in the U.S.S. Cole and Bali bombing cases, “effective immediately.” In doing so, he has given himself the sole power to approve plea deals in the terrorism cases in the final months of the Biden administration.
Mr. Austin wanted to make sure “we aren’t surprised by anything for the remainder of the term,” said a senior Defense Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive legal issue.
The move comes at 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 the custody of other nations if security arrangements can be made.
