Gitmo Watch

The Mysterious Life and Afterlife of Private Fitz Lee

Carol Rosenberg is the empress of the Gitmo press corps, but in her spare time she wrote this deep dive into an instance of the Pentagon’s restoring the names of Confederates to military bases through cynically obvious dishonesty.

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/14/u...

Connell will present an ex parte theory of defense to the new judge on Thursday. Tomorrow's scheduled session is cancelled. MilComs in recess. Thanks for tuning in

Prosecutor Trivett informs the court a new NGO policy is being drafted which will resolve the issue. He expects it will be signed off on soon.

SCOTUS has repeatedly held that restrictions on public access require specific findings and judicial oversight.

Of note, the March filing regarding public access is still not posted to mc.mil

Historically, NGOs including @peacefultomorrows.bsky.social and Judicial Watch
are reliable observers at the pretrial hearings. They are currently not permitted to travel to Guantanamo.

MilComs now hearing arguments from J Connell on the attendance of NGOs at Guantanamo. Beginning in February, the Office of Military Commissions say they are unable to accommodate NGO visitors due to 'operational priorities and resource constraints.'

The government and defense are currently working off-camera and mic to determine how this week can be most productive -- what motions are ripe for argument.

This week the courtroom will be shared between the two groups of the case. Schrama is scheduled for today, Tuesday and Thursday, and Hynes, who is also new and needing to be voir dired, Wednesday and Friday.

The 9/11 defendants are now split between two judges -- Schrama for Mohammad, bin Attash, al Baluchi, and Hawsawi; and Col Thomas P. Hynes for bin al Shibh who was found mentally unfit and severed from the main case.

Ammar al Baluchi won his motion to suppress in April -- that win is also in appeals, background: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/new-...

Judge Schrama has issued a trial conduct order to press forward on the Motions to Suppress statements made by the defendants who are currently in plea agreement appeals. www.mc.mil/Portals/0/pd...

Prosecutor Trivett offers no challenges on the judge's appointment. J Connell for al Baluchi also has no challenges.

MilComs in afternoon recess.

As LtCol Schrama has taken oath to protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic, he says he has a duty to obey all lawful orders. In his judicial role, his role is to be an impartial arbiter.

New Judge Assigned to 9/11 Case Ahead of 24th Anniversary of Attacks

Judge Schrama read @carolrosenberg's article about him (gift link)
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/24/u...

Written questions continue: During your prior experience as a military judge, what guided you in how you analyzed and dissected courts martial?

Schrama will not offer his professional philosophy as to not influence legal strategies.

Judge Schrama has one deployment to Kuwait. He says at one point the location was classified so there are mentions of "Southeast Asia" in his professional record.

Many people would consider Kuwait as being in Southwest Asia, not Southeast.

Schrama uses textbook Military Justice Cases and Materials in his teachings cap-press.com/books/isbn/9...

Creating a Codified Legal Response to Domestic Extremism in the Ranks While serving as a Coast Guard lieutenant, Christopher Hasson made plans to kill “journalists, Democratic politicians, professors, Supreme Court justices

Judge Schrama shares he wrote a paper that was published in War on the Rocks warontherocks.com/2023/07/crea...

Judge Schrama remembers the day of 9/11 feeling surreal. He felt bad for the victims but was not personally affected by the events.

Judge Schrama's next opportunity for promotion to 06, colonel is March 2026.

As a defense attorney, Judge Schrama says he never assumed the prosecution file was a full or complete picture of his client.

From 2018-2019 Judge Schrama was detailed to DOJ Environmental Defense section.

Convening Authority Susan Escallier has never been part of Judge Schrama's rating chain.

Judge Schrama intends on asking counsel to direct him to relevant case history moving forward.

The record is voluminous, with filing series approaching 1,000 series and transcripts exceeding 50,000 pages.

Judge Schrama has never worked on a capital case before. He has reviewed the ABA guidelines for capital cases.

Prior to being detailed, Judge Schrama had no knowledge of mc.mil, the website that hosts transcripts and filings for the Military Commissions.

Judge Elizabeth Hernandez nominated Schrama to MilCom. He says he was happy for the opportunity though didn't request it.

Judge Schrama had just over 2 years of judge experience when was detailed to the MilComs.

Judge Schrama's supervisor is Judge Vicki Marcus. He says he has discussed Air Force cases with her.