The detention proposal put forth by Sen. Joe Lieberman and Republican Sens. John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Saxby Chambliss, Scott Brown, and Kelly Ayotte is basically identical to the one proposed by Rep. Buck McKeon, granting the secretary of defense rather than the attorney general the authority to decide where cases are tried, even domestic ones involving American citizens. It does not appear to strip detainees of the right to counsel in the Periodic Review Boards. Again, it bears mentioning that this is a serious rightward shift from detainee policy during the prior administration.
This is a key provision of both I neglected to mention yesterday:
Clarifies the right to plead guilty in death penalty cases in military commissions.
One of the reasons trying Khalid Sheik Mohammed and the other alleged 9/11 conspirators in military commissions was difficult was because they originally wanted to plead guilty, but commissions don't allow guilty pleas in death penalty cases. This removes that particular hurdle, and in doing so, paves the way for a military commissions trial of KSM and the other alleged 9/11 conspirators.
