Pentagon fires top official overseeing Guantanamo detainees’ 9/11 trials: report

Defense Secretary James Mattis has fired the top official overseeing the trials of the five men being held at Guantánamo Bay who are accused of planning the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Miami Herald reported.

Two people aware of the development told the Herald that Mattis dismissed Harvey Rishikof, who has been convening authority — responsible for resourcing defense teams and for approving cases for trial — for military commissions since last April. 

{mosads}Mattis now technically is convening authority until a new designee is named, so the decision does not stop ongoing hearings at the war court.

The Pentagon declined to comment on the dismissal and no reason has been given for it.

Rishikof, a lawyer with experience in national security law, had no U.S. military experience, unlike his predecessors.

He had pushed a handful of controversial decisions, including recommending that the chief of the prison guards build a new compound for attorney-client meetings over concerns of eavesdropping.

He was also an Obama administration pick, though his appointment was delayed until the start of the Trump administration.

President Trump last November criticized the pace of trials under the military justice system after he ruled out the possibility of sending the suspect in last year’s New York City terror attack, Sayfullo Saipov, to Guantánamo.

“Would love to send the NYC terrorist to Guantanamo but statistically that process takes much longer than going through the Federal system,” Trump tweeted Nov. 2.

Rishikof’s firing comes a week after Trump signed an executive order to keep open the military detention facility at Guantánamo, reversing a Obama-era executive order to attempt to shutter the controversial prison.