Pentagon prepares for media focus on 9/11 trials
WASHINGTON—Pentagon officials said Friday they were looking at how to accommodate media interest in upcoming trials of the accused 9/11 plotters after journalists requested a live video feed of the proceedings from the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay.
Only a handful of reporters are allowed into the small court rooms at Guantanamo and other journalists at the base watch the proceedings from a separate room with a video monitor.
Defense officials permit only about 60 reporters at a time at the base in southeastern Cuba, but the high-profile nature of the pending 9/11 cases has prompted the Pentagon to review an appeal from news organizations to provide a video feed outside Guantanamo.
“We think this is a fair request from the media,” said spokesman Douglas Wilson, assistant secretary of defense for public affairs.
“And I have put together a team to look at the options available to be able to address and accommodate the request,” he told AFP. “I should have those options for review very shortly.”
In May, prosecutors filed charges against 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four alleged co-conspirators, with Guantanamo military trials expected to start later this year.
Another defense official said the Pentagon was considering allowing reporters to watch a closed-circuit video feed of the proceedings outside of Washington.
Similar arrangements were being planned for families of victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The video access for reporters would be subject to the same restrictions imposed on journalists at Guantanamo, officials said.
In previous tribunal hearings, reporters watching the video monitors are not allowed to record the proceedings and broadcasters are not permitted to air the footage.
Defense officials say the restrictions are required due to security precautions.
It was also unclear if the video feed would be live or delayed, to allow officials to prevent the disclosure of potentially classified information.
In requesting a video feed outside of Guantanamo, the Pentagon Press Association said the remote location of the Guantanamo base, the restrictions on entering and leaving the base and the limited facilities there “all serve to impose significant practical limitations on meaningful press access to the proceedings of the military commissions.”
The Pentagon also has promised news outlets that legal motions and other relevant documents will be posted promptly on the military commissions’ official website.
