Following on his criticism last year of the Republican-led plan, President Barack Obama this week attempted to get around the mandate that terrorism suspects be tried by military tribunals.

 

To accomplish this end-around, Obama issued waivers that would exempt certain categories of future prisoners from the requirement, which applies to terrorism suspects who are not American citizens, who are considered part of Al Qaeda or its allies and who are suspected of participating in a terrorist plot against the U.S. or its allies.

 

The Obama waiver would apply ‘to any case in which officials believed that placing a detainee in military custody could impede counterterrorism cooperation with the detainee’s home government or interfere with efforts to secure the person’s cooperation or confession,” according to Charlie Savage writing in The New York Times.

 

According to Obama’s interpretation of the law, a suspect taken into custody by the FBI will only be turned over to the military justice system if seven specific members of the executive branch sign off on the transfer: the attorney general, the secretary of state, the secretary of homeland security, the secretary of defense, the director of national intelligence, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the director of the FBI.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

Obama Issues Waivers on Military Custody for Terror Suspects (by Charlie Savage, New York Times)