Some Sept. 11 Trial Secrets May Not Be Secrets Anymore

GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba — Prosecutors volunteered connected Friday to reappraisal hundreds, possibly thousands, of pages of classified C.I.A. documents successful the Sept. 11 lawsuit to find if immoderate worldly provided to defence lawyers was excessively heavy redacted.

The acknowledgment that immoderate secrets astatine the Guantánamo tribunal whitethorn nary longer beryllium concealed came connected the 4th time of a proceeding successful the analyzable conspiracy lawsuit against Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and 4 different men who are accused of plotting the hijackings that killed astir 3,000 people connected Sept. 11, 2001. The superior lawsuit has been successful pretrial hearings since 2012, 1 crushed accusation erstwhile considered nationalist information secrets whitethorn present beryllium made public.

In a presentation, James G. Connell III, a defence lawyer for Mr. Mohammed’s nephew, Ammar al-Baluchi, told the tribunal that helium had truthful acold obtained 1,025 pages of erstwhile classified cables and different documents from the C.I.A. done the Freedom of Information Act, which included much details than prosecutors and the justice had approved for usage astatine the eventual death-penalty trial. The bureau is preparing to merchandise different 2,100 pages of concealed documents, Mr. Connell said.

Mr. Connell offered arsenic an illustration a May 3, 2003, study from a C.I.A. achromatic tract situation connected an interrogation of Mr. Baluchi, astir apt successful Pakistan, that the bureau released done the Freedom of Information Act.

The prosecution version, invoking a nationalist information privilege, covered up the time of the period arsenic portion of a regular signifier by prosecutors of blurring dates of C.I.A. reports from the achromatic sites; omitted the rubric “Ammar al Baluchi Interview” and definite tracking information; and redacted parts of sentences showing the root of definite accusation was Majid Khan, different achromatic tract prisoner, who precocious said successful tribunal that helium made up lies portion being tortured to fulfill his interrogators.

A pb prosecutor, Clayton G. Trivett Jr., agreed to the review, saying that “there is immoderate reconciliation that needs to beryllium done” by his team. He said prosecutors would comparison documents released by the C.I.A. nether FOIA to those his squad had prepared and fixed to defence lawyers.

Mr. Trivett said that if the C.I.A. has subsequently changed its theories oregon rules of classification, “it cannot be” that “the public” has entree to much implicit documents than defence lawyers and, potentially, yet a assemblage get.

Mr. Mohammed and the different defendants were captured successful Pakistan successful 2002 and 2003. The lawsuit is mired successful hearings connected whether admissions they made to F.B.I. agents aft their accomplishment successful Guantánamo successful 2007 were tainted by their torture.

The caller judge, Col. Matthew N. McCall of the Air Force, is proceeding dozens of pleadings by defence lawyers who privation the tribunal to bid the authorities to hunt for and crook implicit accusation they reason whitethorn beryllium missing from the archetypal six oregon 7 years of the accused plotters’ detention.

It was unclear however overmuch clip the prosecution’s reappraisal would take, oregon whether it would further acceptable backmost efforts by prosecutors to bring the lawsuit to trial. Mr. Trivett besides did not look to perpetrate to reappraisal each the classified documents successful the case.

But the improvement underscored however the scenery of nationalist accusation has changed successful the astir 10 years that the lawsuit has been successful pretrial proceedings, peculiarly done litigation successful different courts and done authorities leaks.

Just past month, erstwhile the Supreme Court wrestled with nationalist information invocations successful a civilian lawsuit involving claims of torture of a Guantánamo prisoner, Abu Zubaydah, astatine an overseas C.I.A. prison, respective justices openly named the state successful question arsenic Poland.

“The information that helium was tortured by these contractors successful Poland, that’s not a authorities secret?” Justice Amy Coney Barrett asked successful a question that, nether existent rules astatine the tribunal astatine Guantánamo Bay, would person constituted a spill of classified information.

To forestall specified accusation from reaching the nationalist from the Guantánamo proceedings, the Pentagon tribunal has a 40-second hold connected audio broadcast into the spectator’s gallery, clip for a information serviceman wrong the tribunal to mute what the nationalist hears.

Prosecutors person consistently invoked the nationalist information privilege for the names of each state that hosted a achromatic tract successful the C.I.A. program, which was established successful 2002 and was closed successful 2009, due to the fact that the nations that permitted the United States to tally the concealed prisons were promised anonymity. Permitting the tract to beryllium mentioned, the mentation goes, would harm overseas relations.

Two years ago, prosecutors were forced to revisit their classification decisions successful Guantánamo’s different death-penalty lawsuit aft the Army justice determination ruled that their deletions “could reasonably beryllium characterized arsenic self-serving and calculated to debar embarrassment,” and “indicative of a minimalist view” of grounds defence lawyers were entitled to receive.