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48 Harv. C.R.-C.L. L. Rev. 457 (2013)
Known Unknowns

handle is hein.journals/hcrcl48 and id is 465 raw text is: Known Unknowns Jameel Jaffer* 1. SECRECY One hundred sixty-six men are imprisoned at the U.S. Naval Station at Guantdnamo Bay.' Many of these men the government intends to imprison indefinitely without charge or trial.2 Some, though, will be tried for war crimes, and most of these, including those alleged to have planned the 9/11 attacks, will be tried not before regular criminal courts, but before military commissions.' These commissions are convened at Camp Justice, a col- lection of low-slung, prefabricated structures built on a former military air- field several miles from the base's detention facilities.4 The principal courtroom is in most respects unremarkable. The judge presides from a raised bench at the front of the room. There is a witness box to each side of the bench. Against the wall to the judge's right is a long, narrow box that can seat as many as thirty jurors. There are similar courtrooms in cities across the United States and around the world. What distinguishes the courtroom at Guantdnamo from others is that, in place of the railing that customarily separates trial participants from the pub- lic gallery behind them, there is a floor-to-ceiling barrier of soundproofed glass.5 Those who travel to Guantdnamo to observe the proceedings - jour- nalists, representatives of civil society organizations, and family members of those who died in the 9/11 attacks - are seated behind the glass and listen * Deputy Legal Director, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation; Fellow, Open Soci- ety Foundations; Visiting Fellow, Information Society Project, Yale Law School. Thanks to Alex Abdo, Sandra Coliver, Matt Craig, Mitra Ebadolahi, Brett Matt Kaufman, Alice Ristroph, Hina Shamsi, Steven R. Shapiro, Larry Siems, Nathan Freed Wessler, and Ben Wizner for their comments on drafts and collaboration on briefs. I Guantdnamo by the Numbers, AM. CIvIL LIBERTIES UNION (Dec. 27, 2012), http://www. aclu.org/national-security/Guantdinamo-numbers. 2 Id.; see also President Barack Obama, Remarks by the President on National Security, THE WHrrE HousE (May 21, 2009, 11:17 AM), http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/ remarks-president-national-security-5-21-09. 3 Stephanie Condon, KSM to Be Tried by Military Commission at Guantdnamo, CBS NEWS (Apr. 4, 2011, 5:55 PM), http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20050405-5035 44.html; Obama, supra note 2. 4 Except where otherwise indicated, my description of Camp Justice and its facilities is taken from the Defense Department's website. See Facilities, MILITARY COMMISSIONS, http:// www.mc.mil/FACILITIESSERVICES/Facilities.aspx (last visited Mar. 11, 2013); Courtroom II, MILITARY COMMISSIONS, http://www.mc.mil/FACILITIESSERVICES/Facilities/Court rooms/CourtroomIll.aspx (last visited Mar. 11, 2013) (includes photographs). I Richard Serrano, Sept. 11 Judge Angrily Rules Against Government Censors, L.A. TIMES (Jan. 31, 2013), http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nationla-na-0201-gitmo-trial-2013 0201,0,1548676.story; Jane Sutton, Judge Orders End to Secret Censorship of Guantdnamo Court, REUTERS (Jan. 31, 2013, 5:29 PM), http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/31/us-usa- guantanamo-idUSBRE90UOZ72013013 1.

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