An FBI investigation into a potential security breach that halted proceedings at the Guantanamo war crimes tribunal in April has ended without charges, the Justice Department said today.
The FBI was investigating whether a member of the defense team for Ramzi Binalshibh, one of five prisoners at the US base in Cuba charged in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack, had facilitated "unauthorized communications" abroad, Justice Department spokesman Brian Fallon said.
In April, a lawyer for Binalshibh disclosed that the FBI questioned the defense security officer assigned to their team, a non-lawyer who assists with the handling of classified evidence. The disclosure halted pretrial hearings in the case because of a potential conflict of interest for defense lawyers charged with defending both their clients and potentially themselves if they were targets of any investigation.
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Fallon said in a statement that no lawyers are under investigation. A federal prosecutor informed the court Wednesday that the investigation was over and that the government believes there is no conflict and that the case should resume.
But Navy Lt Cmdr Kevin Bogucki, a military lawyer for Binalshibh, said all five defendants in the case and all their attorneys must still determine whether a potential conflict exists.
"We are going to have to carefully review all the facts ourselves and Ramzi (Binalshibh) is going to have to look at the facts," Bogucki said. "We are not going to be able to accept the government's statement at face value."
The Justice Department did not provide details about the investigation, but Fallon said "The alleged facilitation of these communications may have constituted a federal crime and compromised national security."
James Harrington, a lawyer for Binalshibh, said FBI agents questioned the security officer, a contractor employed by SRA International Inc. Of Fairfax, Virginia, at his home and asked him about the activities other defense team members.
He said they also earlier questioned another member of the defense team, a non-lawyer whose job he did not disclose. Harrington said the Justice Department statement does not address what, if anything, they learned about the defense team between the questioning of the first defense team member in November and the second in April.
