Press Release: Statement from September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows on Secretary of Defense Revoking Plea Agreements

August 3rd, 2024

Contact: Peaceful Tomorrows (845) 754-1762

September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows was created partly from a fear that the legacy of 9/11 would include the erosion of the U.S. Constitution and the Rule of Law. Today we saw that happen. Again.

This past Wednesday, word of signed plea agreements with three of the September 11th defendants reached 9/11 families. This was not the justice originally hoped for. But plea agreements offered a path to finality, and a modicum of justice and accountability for the crimes of 9/11.

Yesterday, those agreements were invalidated by Defense Secretary Austin in a move that not only ultimately betrays 9/11 family members, but undermines the very government attorneys charged with prosecuting this case. The 2019 Manual for Military Commissions Rule 705 regarding pretrial agreements clearly states “The decision whether to accept or reject an offer is within the sole discretion of the convening authority.” It was Secretary Austin who named Brig. General Susan Escallier to the job of Convening Authority in September 2023. That the Secretary has now overreached and undertaken direct oversight of the 9/11 commission is cause for enormous concern.

While we understand there are family members who are opposed to plea agreements, the reality stands that the 9/11 accused were tortured and several were sodomized. If any entity is at fault for the inability to prosecute this case with a slam dunk, it’s the torturers. Because of the torture, the 9/11 accused will not be put to death. And any Administration official or member of Congress who says otherwise is either uninformed, or politically pandering.

The men who perpetrated the death of thousands on September 11th; men who have never uttered a word of remorse, should be justly punished. But what happened this week to 9/11 families is emotional whiplash. We will recover. We have been working for justice for the death of our loved ones for 23 years. Our larger concerns today are for this country, for the future of our children and grandchildren when legal principles are compromised. We ask that Secretary Austin meet with the 9/11 prosecution team, learn the deep complexities and flaws in the case, and come to his own conclusion that pretrial agreements will provide the finality and accountability we all deserve.