Known Unknowns

Abstract

One hundred sixty-six men are imprisoned at the U.S. Naval Station at Guantánamo Bay.1 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.3 These commissions are convened at “Camp Justice,” a collection of low-slung, prefabricated structures built on a former military airfield 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 Guantánamo from others is that, in place of the railing that customarily separates trial participants from the public gallery behind them, there is a floor-to-ceiling barrier of soundproofed glass.5 Those who travel to Guantánamo to observe the proceedings — journalists, representatives of civil society organizations, and family members of those who died in the 9/11 attacks — are seated behind the glass and listen