8/21 Motions Session #1: In Re No-Shows
And we’re off.
Published by The Lawfare Institute
in Cooperation With
And we’re off.
Only two accused are here: Ammar al-Baluchi and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. That means a voluntariness colloquy as to the absent three, one initiated by prosecutor Bob Swann. The latter asks his witness, LT CDR George Massucco, whether each of the trio knowingly and voluntarily waived their presence rights. The JTF staffer says that they did so; the court credits this testimony and then finds that they did so.* (Along the way, a scrupulous Judge Pohl also asks whether any detainees suggested medical conditions as the true reasons for their absences, and Massucco answers no, they did not.)
We thus turn to the substance. *The court found later in the morning that the detainees voluntarily waived presence in court today.
Raffaela Wakeman is a Senior Director at In-Q-Tel. She started her career at the Brookings Institution, where she spent five years conducting research on national security, election reform, and Congress. During this time she was also the Associate Editor of Lawfare. From there, Raffaela practiced law at the U.S. Department of Defense for four years, advising her clients on privacy and surveillance law, cybersecurity, and foreign liaison relationships. She departed DoD in 2019 to join the Majority Staff of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, where she oversaw the Intelligence Community’s science and technology portfolios, cybersecurity, and surveillance activities. She left HPSCI in May 2021 to join IQT.
Raffaela received her BS and MS in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2009 and her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 2015, where she was recognized for her commitment to public service with the Joyce Chiang Memorial Award. While at the Department of Defense, she was the inaugural recipient of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s General Counsel Award for exhibiting the highest standards of leadership, professional conduct, and integrity.
Wells C. Bennett was Managing Editor of Lawfare and a Fellow in National Security Law at the Brookings Institution. Before coming to Brookings, he was an Associate at Arnold & Porter LLP.
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