As Jeff shared yesterday, there were no hearings today and the defense was given the day to prepare proposed orders for discovery related to the FBI’s alleged questioning of the Defense Security Officer on Ramzi Binalshibh’s defense team.  And indeed, an ex parte, under seal document was filed today on the issue by counsel for Binalshibh.

As there was no courtroom activity today, I used the free day to make the 25-minute drive to Annapolis to tour the United States Naval Academy.  Aside from my personal interest in the facility, I confess I hope to some day interest my 8th grade son in touring the campus as well!

I elected to take the guided walking tour which lasted about an hour and a half and contained a wealth of information about the academy.  The grounds are absolutely beautiful and the facilities shown on the tour were state-of-the art.  For me, however, the highlight was viewing the crypt where Scotsman and Revolutionary War naval hero John Paul Jones is entombed.  Commanding the Bon Homme Richard, the severely out-gunned Jones uttered the famous words “I have not yet begun to fight!” and ultimately captured the British ship HMS Serapis in the battle.

As the United States had not yet formed an organized navy, after the Revolution Jones sought work elsewhere in the world, and for a time served as an admiral in the Russian navy under Catherine the Great.  He later moved the France, where he died in 1792 of complications from an earlier bout with malaria.  The French had preserved and buried Jones’ body in a royal cemetery, but the location of the cemetery was lost after the French Revolution.  After a six-year search, Jones’ grave was discovered and his remains were repatriated to the United States.  He has been interred at the Naval Academy ever since.

After an interesting day learning new things, I’m ready for more hearings!  Hopefully we will hear from Judge Pohl tomorrow.  In the meantime, I expect Jeff will update us on his adventures in Cuba!

I’ll let Jeff provide the update on the courtroom events of the day – stay tuned for some interesting information! In the meantime, I thought I’d give a little background on the setup here at Fort Meade.

According to (the dreaded) Wikipedia:  “Fort George G. Meade is a United States Army installation that includes the Defense Information School, the United States Army Field Band, and the headquarters of United States Cyber Command, the National Security Agency, the Defense Courier Service, and Defense Information Systems Agency headquarters. It is named for George G. Meade, a general from the U.S. Civil War, who served as commander of the Army of the Potomac.”

The base is located southwest of Baltimore and is a short drive from BWI airport. Entry to the base for NGOs is easy; I simply proceed through the main gate (which is probably six miles from my hotel) and to a vehicle inspection checkpoint where uniformed men check my driver’s license and car registration. They ask my business on the base send me on my way. It is a short drive to Smallwood Hall, past the impressive-looking headquarters of the Defense Information Systems Agency, which provides IT and communications support to the President, Vice President, Secretary of Defense, and military services.

Smallwood Hall is a small, house-like building.  In front of the building are two large satellite dishes. I spoke with an IT contractor for the Office of Military Commissions who is on site and operates the system while we are here. He informed me the dishes receive the video and audio from Guantánamo through two satellites, a KU band and a C band. The satellites reside in a geosynchronous orbit in what is commonly referred to as the “Clarke orbit” 36,000 miles above the equator. The dual signals provide complete redundancy in the event of an interruption in the signal from one of the two satellites. In the event of heavy rain, which we are experiencing at Fort Meade today, the KU band is often interrupted and the C band is used. Interestingly, the satellites are owned by a Canadian and a Belgian firm, from whom the government leases bandwidth.

 

 

After the IT contractor, I have been the first to arrive each day, a little after 8:00 a.m. There is no particular protocol for entering the Post Theater; the door is unlocked and I just walk in and select a seat in a small auditorium similar to a classroom at our law school. A large screen fronts the room flanked by a United States flag and a U.S. Army flag. Around 8:35 a group of reporters and bloggers arrives together. They are required to meet at the main base entrance and their vehicles undergo a bomb sniff before proceeding to the theater with an escort.  They also must be escorted off the post. Present today were representatives from Reuters, Huffington Post, New York Daily News, and Agence France-Presse, and a blogger/reporter from the Brookings Institution. Yesterday an L.A. Times reporter was also here. In addition, there is a reporter from the Armed Forces Press Service (of the Department of Defense) and also an observer from the “OSD” – Office of the Secretary of Defense.  He described himself as a “media analyst” for the DOD and was very personable and helpful.  Today he provided the media escort off the base.

 

The family members watch at another location on base; I’m told by one of the press here that some NGOs may be at that location as well, and when Smallwood Hall is occupied with another event, the press may view the proceedings from that location also.

We are permitted to bring cell phones and laptops into the theater.   In fact, a white board at the front of the room provides the WiFi password for the building. The reporters are thus able to post reports in real time as court is in session. I would be interested to know what (if any) monitoring is done by DOD of this connection.

Another nice amenity is that someone from a canteen on base is here every morning to take our lunch orders. For a not terribly unreasonable price (e.g., $8.00 club sandwich; $2.50 piece of pizza) we can order lunch which is delivered to us at midday. And finally, on the first day of the hearings we were provided with a CD-ROM containing PDFs of what appear to be all the public filings in the case to date. This is all very helpful but I also suspect it is aimed at limiting the media’s exposure to the base and exercising some control over what documents are “officially” provided.

The atmosphere is congenial; the other attendees were happy to answer my questions and discuss issues.  While the hearings are ongoing there is not a lot of discussion, but during breaks and after adjournment they ask each other questions and confirm certain details of the hearings with each other as they prepare to post their stories for the day.

We adjourned early again today – Jeff will have more later on all the excitement!!

 

Today marked the beginning of a planned four-day set of pre-trial hearings for five alleged 9/11 conspirators being held at Guantánamo Bay. I viewed this morning’s court session remotely at Fort Meade, Maryland. Jeff Meding is on site in Cuba and has previously posted information about the motions scheduled to be argued. Among these is AE152J in which the government requests Judge Pohl to make a determination pursuant to Military Commission Rule 909 of Ramzi bin al Shibh’s competency.

Judge Pohl called the hearing to order at 09:15 EDT. He then advised each accused (all of whom were present in the courtroom) of his right to be present throughout the hearings, and through an interpreter, each accused responded that he understood.

Counsel for the government then addressed the judge, requesting the he grant an ex parte motion apparently filed by the government on Sunday. The only information available in open court was that the motion was numbered 152V and related to the RMC 909 competency issue. Judge Pohl refused the government’s request to grant the motion without a hearing and expressed concern about derailing the week’s schedule over the issue. The government then indicated it felt an ex parte hearing on the issue would take no longer than an hour.

When James Harrington, counsel for bin al Shibh, responded, he stated the defense objects to an ex parte order and would like to brief in opposition and could do so within the hour. However, Harrington objected to a continuance on the ex parte motion issue because of another pending motion, namely, a joint defense “emergency motion to abate” the proceedings which he and the other defense attorneys had filed around 10:00 p.m. Sunday. According to Harrington’s argument, a member of the bin al Shibh defense team was approached on Sunday, April 6 (last week) by two FBI agents and questioned regarding the defense teams in this case. Apparently the motion attaches what purports to be a non-disclosure agreement the FBI required this team member to sign. Harrington asked for abatement of the proceedings pending investigation into the incident and proper advisement of the five accused of any potential conflict of interest. bin Attash’s lawyer also addressed the judge and represented that the content of the FBI conversation is not yet known and without such knowledge her client will not be able to determine if he has conflict-free counsel. The attorneys for the other accused also addressed the court and described efforts to draft the motion.

The government then argued against abatement and also requested the judge proceed with the ex parte hearing on the RMC 909 issue.

The judge determined that he would go ahead with an ex parte hearing on the government’s motion at 1:00 p.m. Monday and would otherwise adjourn for the day, to reconvene Tuesday at 9:00 a.m.

I suspect that Jeff will hear more talk on the ground at GTMO and hopefully we will hear from him!

In the meantime, I spoke with an L.A. Times reporter at Fort Meade, and he indicated that Carol Rosenberg of the Miami Herald is a highly respected press reporter on these hearings. Carol has posted a story about today’s events from her perspective on the Miami Herald website.