24 years later, 9/11 Gitmo trial hasn’t happened — but Hegseth committed to seeking death penalty

Two dozen years have gone by since the deadly terrorist attacks of 9/11, yet the alleged mastermind of the plot and his co-conspirators held at Guantánamo Bay still have not been put on trial for their crimes. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth told Just the News that he remains adamant about pursuing the death penalty against the al-Qaeda terrorists.

Nineteen al-Qaeda terrorists crashed hijacked planes into the World Trade Center buildings in New York City, the Pentagon, and a field near Shanksville in Pennsylvania after a revolt by the passengers overpowered the terrorists controlling that plane. The butcher's bill that day was steep: nearly 3,000 people.

Hegseth seeks the death penalty: "The American people deserve justice"

“I am committed to seeking the death penalty for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) and for every 9/11 co-conspirator locked up at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp,” Hegseth told Just the News this week. “These savage terrorists deserve their day on trial as soon as possible, and the American people deserve justice for what they did on September 11th, 2001.” 

It remains unclear when the alleged plotters of the 9/11 attack — KSM and others — could face a capital trial, in part due to the challenged admissibility of their confessions to the FBI following their treatment while in CIA custody, as well as due to actions taken by the Biden Defense Department where the 9/11 conspirators were offered plea deals in exchange for the death penalty being taken off the table, only for then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to attempt to withdraw the deals.

Lt. Col. Michael Schrama, the fifth military judge to handle the 9/11 case, is overseeing the prosecution of KSM, Baluchi, bin Attash, and Hawsawi. Col. Thomas P. Hynes is handling the case against bin al-Shibh, who was found unfit to stand trial in 2023.

The military commissions trial, if it happens, would have as its jury a panel of a dozen U.S. service members randomly drawn from a pool of active-duty military officers. The military commissions are a hybrid between a military tribunal and civilian court, authorized by the Military Commissions Act of 2009 after a prior setup was found unconstitutional. 

CIA's "enhanced interrogation techniques" complicate pursuit of trial

KSM has been described as “the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks” in the 9/11 Commission Report, and was a close ally of Osama bin Laden. He is currently being tried in another case at the U.S. military commissions located at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay. That case involves four other defendants: his nephew, Ammar Baluchi, who allegedly sent money transfers to hijackers inside the U.S.; alleged hijacking trainer Walid bin Attash; alleged al-Qaeda money man Mustafa Hawsawi; and German hijacking cell leader Ramzi bin al-Shibh.

KSM was repeatedly waterboarded in numerous sessions while in U.S. custody, prior to his transfer to the prison on the U.S. Navy base in Cuba. The terrorist was allegedly subjected to 15 waterboarding sessions in March 2003 after his capture in Pakistan. 

Supporting KSM, the American Civil Liberties Union called Guantánamo "a disgraceful stain on our nation," and said in 2022 that "Guantánamo is a symbol of racial and religious injustice, abuse, and disregard for the rule of law. Our government’s embrace of systematic torture shattered lives, shredded this country’s reputation in the world, and compromised national security."

A key unresolved question is the admissibility of confessions obtained by the FBI after the CIA subjected the 9/11 conspirators to “enhanced interrogation techniques.” The defense teams have sought to paint the CIA’s interrogation program as synonymous with torture, and claim that the confessions obtained through “clean” interrogations conducted by the FBI after the detainees were transferred to Guantánamo Bay in 2006 should be tossed out. 

Debate over the CIA’s interrogation program lasted for years, with the Democrat-led Senate Intelligence Committee concluding in 2014 that it “was not an effective means of acquiring intelligence or gaining cooperation from detainees” and that the interrogations “were brutal and far worse than the CIA represented to policymakers and others.” Of the 119 suspected terrorists held in CIA custody at some point, 39 detainees were known to have been subjected to some version of the techniques.

But Republicans, as well as former CIA Directors George Tenet, Porter Goss and Michael Hayden, pushed back.

“We have no doubt that the CIA’s detention program saved lives and played a vital role in weakening al-Qaeda while the program was in operation,” Republican Senate committee members wrote, saying the report’s conclusions were biased.

The CIA, then led by John Brennan, acknowledged “shortcomings” and “mistakes” but insisted the program “helped thwart attack plans, capture terrorists, and save lives.” The agency would later say that “intelligence acquired from these interrogations has been a key reason why al-Qaeda has failed to launch a spectacular attack in the West since September 11, 2001.”

Mohammed confessed to 9/11 mastermind role, murder of Danny Pearl

Mohammed told Al Jazeera in 2002 that al-Qaeda referred to the attacks as “Holy Tuesday” and bragged: “The attacks were designed to cause as many deaths as possible and havoc and be a big slap for America on American soil. … We were never short of potential martyrs. Indeed, we have a department called the Department of Martyrs.” He was captured in Pakistan soon after.

KSM confessed to planning the 9/11 attacks in a March 2007 statement to the Combatant Status Review Tribunal, saying, “I was responsible for the 9/11 operation, from A to Z. I was the operational director for Sheikh Osama bin Laden for the organizing, planning, follow-up, and execution of the 9/11 operation.”

When the judge in a 2008 hearing informed him he could be sentenced to death for his crimes, Mohammed welcomed “martyrdom” and told the judge, “In Allah I trust.” He said: ”This is what I wish. I’ve been looking to be martyred for a long time.” He has since backed away from this.

Mohammed also confessed to planning assassination plots against Pope John Paul II and U.S. presidents such as Jimmy Carter, and he said that he participated in other terrorist attacks, including the 1993 World Trade Center bombing that killed six people, “shoe bomber” Richard Reid’s 2001 attempt to blow up an airliner, and the 2002 Bali nightclub bombing in Indonesia that killed 202 people.

KSM further admitted to killing Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002, saying: “I decapitated with my blessed right hand the head of the American Jew, Daniel Pearl, in the city of Karachi, Pakistan. For those who would like to confirm, there are pictures of me on the Internet holding his head.” FBI and CIA officials reportedly assessed that a vein on the arm of the man in the video decapitating Pearl matches that of KSM.

9/11 case has been delayed year after year

Mohammed is represented by defense attorney Gary Sowards, who previously defended “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski, who killed three people in bombings over a period of 17 years. 

Rear Adm. Aaron Rugh is the chief prosecutor for the Military Commissions case against the 9/11 co-conspirators. Brigadier General Mark Martins had led the prosecution team for many years, but retired in 2021.

The 9/11 cases at Gitmo have been delayed many times following unfavorable Supreme Court decisions under President George W. Bush and an abandoned effort by President Barack Obama to try the men in a New York City federal court.

In his first term, President Donald Trump vowed to keep the prison open, but open or not, the COVID-19 pandemic again slowed the proceedings at the war court.

The now-former military judge presiding over the 9/11 case had in 2019 scheduled the trial of KSM and his co-conspirators to begin in 2021, but a host of factors — including the pandemic, the changing of judges, and plea negotiations pursued by the Biden administration — assured that that still hasn’t happened even in 2025.

Biden sought to shutter the facility

When asked in February 2021 about Biden’s announced intention to shut down the Guantánamo Bay prison, then-White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said: “That certainly is the goal, and our intention.” Biden persisted in his intent throughout his term.

A number of House Republicans who fought in the global war on terror told Austin in January 2021 they had "serious reservations" about the push to close the detention camp. Meanwhile, more than six dozen House Democrats sent Biden a letter in August 2021 urging him to close the prison.

During the 9/11 pre-trial hearings held at the tribunal during the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks in September 2021, significant construction in preparation for a potential trial was ramping up at the naval base’s “Camp Justice” despite Biden’s pledge to shutter the detention facility. 

The Biden administration refused to send a witness to testify at a Democrat-led Senate hearing in December 2021 about shutting down the detention facility, as Republicans compared Biden's efforts to shut down the prison in Cuba to the disastrous U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Psaki repeated in December 2021 that Biden “absolutely remains committed to shutting down Guantánamo Bay.”

Republicans battled against Biden’s efforts to shutter Gitmo. He placed provisions in the annual National Defense Authorization Act that included barriers to using U.S. taxpayer and Pentagon funds to transfer the detainees to certain foreign countries, a ban on using such taxpayer funds to construct or modify facilities inside the U.S. to house them, (including the men charged with responsibility for 9/11), and forbidding the relinquishing of U.S. control over Guantánamo Bay.

Biden Pentagon tried to take death penalty off the table — then tried to reverse itself

Republicans have repeatedly and harshly criticized any deal with the 9/11 defendants which would have taken the death penalty off the table as the Biden administration spent years attempting to reach precisely such a plea deal with the terrorists.

The House Armed Services Committee’s Republicans said at the time that “the Biden administration is doing the unthinkable – they are considering offering the terrorists who organized those attacks, plea deals to escape the death penalty” and that “these terrorists killed thousands of innocent people – they deserve the death penalty.”

Susan Escallier, who was then the Convening Authority for the Military Commissions, agreed to a plea deal with KSM, bin Attash, and Hawsawi last summer which would have taken the death penalty off the table in exchange for them taking responsibility for their roles in 9/11.

The Office of the Chief Prosecutor and the Director of the Office of Military Commissions Victim Witness Assistance Program sent a late July 2024 letter to 9/11 victim families alerting them of the deal.

“Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, Walid Bin ‘Attash, and Mustafa al Hawsawi entered into pre-trial agreements in this case with the Convening Authority. 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, and to be later sentenced by a panel of military officers,” the letter said.

The government letter also said that “As part of the pre-trial agreement, the Accused have also agreed to a process to respond to questions submitted by VFMs regarding their roles and reasons for conducting the September 11 attacks, should you have any unanswered questions about the attacks you would like answered.”

The New York Times reported that the families of those killed had mixed reactions, but the overall public's reaction was summed up where the Times quoted one of the family members: "After 9/11, we all said, ‘Never forget.’ Well, we forgot. And not only did we forget, we don’t give a damn anymore. A lot of people just want this over with."

Austin sought to shred the plea deals in early August 2024. Air Force Colonel Matthew McCall, a military judge handling the 9/11 case at the time, ruled in November 2024 that Austin was not able to withdraw the plea deal which had been offered to the terrorists and agreed to by them. The judge ordered the plea deal proceedings to move forward.

The Trump Pentagon, through the Justice Department, appealed McCall's ruling, and first received a stay on the plea deals early this year. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia then sided with the Pentagon in a 2-1 ruling.

The appellate court vacated the military judge’s order in July of this year, remanding the case back to the trial court. According to NPR, the defendants are exploring the possibility of an appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States, presenting the potential for yet more delay.

Gitmo has been largely emptied of terrorists — but 9/11 plotters remain

KSM and his 9/11 co-conspirators are among the relatively small number of detainees remaining at the Cuban detention center. No new detainees are believed to have arrived at Guantánamo since 2008.

The Guantánamo Docket, a project of The New York Times, states that an estimated 15 detainees — including the alleged mastermind of 9/11 — remain at Gitmo out of the roughly 780 suspected terrorists who passed through the island detention center since 2002.

Among the detainees released during the Obama administration were five high-ranking Taliban members who were part of a 2014 prisoner swap that secured the release of former Army soldier and deserter Bowe Bergdahl. All five of the so-called “Taliban Five” were named to key roles in the Taliban’s ruling government after the group took over in August 2021, according to the Middle East Institute’s Taliban Leadership Tracker.

After Bergdahl pleaded guilty to desertion and to endangering the American troops sent to search for him, his rank was demoted to private and given a dishonorable discharge. Bergdahl was not sentenced to prison.

Beyond Hegseth's vow to pursue justice for the families of the 9/11 victims, the war secretary has launched an investigation to determine the Pentagon's share of the blame for what went wrong in 2021, saying, "We have an obligation to the American people and to the warfighters who fought in Afghanistan to get the truth - and we will."