Exclusive: Austin’s Revocation of 9/11 Plea Deal Faces New Legal Blowback

Sealed filing could force defense secretary to take witness stand at Guantánamo

Lloyd Austin in 2015, as head of the U.S. Central Command (Wikicommons)

When the Pentagon announced last month that military prosecutors had entered into a plea deal with three accused Sept. 11 terrorists that would spare them the death penalty, the political blowback was fast and furious. 

“Unthinkable,” said Speaker of House Mike Johnson about the deal in a posting on X.   “A disgrace,” thundered Sen. Ted Cruz. “We need a president who kills terrorists, not negotiates with them," proclaimed Ohio Sen. JD Vance,  Donald Trump’s vice presidential running mate.   

It didn’t take long for Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to respond as well. Two days after the deal became public, and in the aftermath of the fierce congressional criticism, Austin,  in a surprise move,  threw out the negotiated plea bargain with 9/11 mastermind Khaled Sheikh Mohammed and two co-defendants and removed the Pentagon official, retired Brig. Gen. Susan K. Escallier, who green lighted the deal, from authority over the matter. 

The decision by Austin may well have headed off a potential political problem for the White House, and by extension Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris,  defusing charges by the GOP—and some 9/11 family members—that the Biden administration was “soft” on murderous terrorists. 

But now, the secretary’s move—and the GOP attacks that preceded it—are the focus of a new court challenge that threatens to throw yet another legal monkey wrench into the seemingly endless 9/11 cases. According to a top legal expert, it could also force Austin himself to take the witness stand.