Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday revoked a plea agreement made days earlier with the accused mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and two alleged accomplices.
The plea agreement, announced Wednesday, would have spared the three men from receiving the death penalty.
Instead, Austin relieved the overseer of the war court at Guantanamo Bay on Friday and announced in a memo that he had assumed control as the convening authority for military commissions.
“I have determined that, in light of the significance of the decision to enter into pre-trial agreements with the accused in the above-referenced case, responsibility for such a decision should rest with me as the superior convening authority under the Military Commissions Act of 2009,” Austin wrote in the memo addressed to retired Brigadeer General Susan K. Escallier.
“Effective immediately, I hereby withdraw your authority in the above-referenced case to enter into a pre-trial agreement and reserve such authority to myself,” he said. “Effective immediately, in the exercise of my authority, I hereby withdraw from the three pre-trial agreements that you signed on July 31, 2024 in the above-referenced case.”
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who is believed to be the main conspirator in al-Qaeda’s 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, and two co-conspirators had agreed to plead guilty with the U.S. military justice system.
The Pentagon said in a press release on Wednesday that “the specific terms and conditions of the pretrial agreements are not available to the public at this time.” Under the agreement, Mohammed and accomplices Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi would have avoided capital punishment, according to a letter that prosecutors sent to families of 9/11 victims, instead serving up to life in prison.
“In exchange for the removal of the death penalty as a possible punishment, these three accused have agreed to plead guilty to all of the charged offenses, including the murder of the 2,976 people listed in the charge sheet,” prosecutor Aaron C. Rugh wrote in the letter, according to the New York Times.
Several lawmakers criticized the plea deal earlier this week.
“The Biden-Harris Administration’s weakness in the face of sworn enemies of the American people apparently knows no bounds,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) wrote. “The plea deal with terrorists — including Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks that killed thousands of Americans — is a revolting abdication of the government’s responsibility to defend America and provide justice. The only thing worse than negotiating with terrorists is negotiating with them after they are in custody. The families of their victims and the American people deserve real justice. In the same week that Israel eliminated some of Iran’s most trusted terrorist proxies, the Administration’s decision to spare these mass-murderers from the death penalty is an especially bitter pill. Meanwhile, the Biden-Harris Administration still seeks to release other Guantanamo terrorists back into the world. The Administration’s cowardice in the face of terror is a national disgrace.”
Senator Ted Cruz (R., Texas) called the agreement “a disgrace,” saying the accused terrorists “deserve the death penalty.”
“Anything short of their execution is a complete and total miscarriage of justice. Time and time again, this administration shows weakness to our adversaries,” he said in a statement on X.
A National Security Council spokesperson said President Joe Biden learned of the agreements on Wednesday and that Biden and the White House “played no role in this process.”
“The president has directed his team to consult as appropriate with officials and lawyers at the Department of Defense on this matter,” the spokesperson said Wednesday.