The U.S. Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, has announced his decision to rescind controversial plea agreements made between prosecutors and three men accused of planning the September 11, 2001 attacks. In his first public statement regarding this decision, Austin stated that it “was not a decision I took lightly” and that he made it to honor the immense losses that occurred on that day. “I have long believed that the families of the victims, our service members, and the American public deserve the opportunity to see military commissions and commission trials conducted,” he said during an event with visiting Australian officials in Annapolis, Maryland.

The Department of Defense announced on July 31 that plea agreements had been reached with three of the five alleged plotters held at Guantanamo Bay, where they are accused of orchestrating the deadliest attack on U.S. soil in the nation’s history. Nearly 3,000 people lost their lives when hijacked passenger planes struck targets in New York City and Washington, D.C. A fourth plane crashed in a field as passengers fought back against the hijackers.

The agreements involved the alleged mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, along with accomplices Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi. A fourth defendant did not agree to the terms, while a fifth individual was declared unfit to stand trial last year. In a statement, the agreements were described as “pre-trial agreements,” without providing further details. U.S. media reported that the men would plead guilty in exchange for receiving life sentences instead of the death penalty.

The defendants are to be brought before a military court at the maximum-security facility in Cuba, but their cases have been delayed for years due to legal disputes. The plea agreements were welcomed by some as the only possible way to resolve the long-delayed 9/11 cases, including J. Wells Dixon, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights. Dixon, who has represented defendants at Guantanamo and other inmates who have been exonerated, accused Austin of “bowing to political pressure and pushing some victims’ families over an emotional cliff.”

According to Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh, Austin himself was caught off guard by the decision, stating to reporters that “this is not something that the Secretary [Lloyd Austin] was consulted about.” A brief written statement from the Secretary of Defense confirmed that the plea agreements had been withdrawn. Austin added that Susan Escallier, the official responsible for the military commission that had approved the agreements, had also been stripped of her authority to enter pre-trial agreements, and that he would take on responsibility in the matter.

“Effective immediately, in the exercise of my authority, I hereby withdraw the three pre-trial agreements that you signed on July 31, 2024,” stated the letter. U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan confirmed that the Biden administration did not play a role in the plea agreements, saying that the White House became aware of them “the same day” they were announced. “We had no role in that process. The President had no role. The Vice President had no role. I had no role. The White House had no role,” Sullivan told reporters on Thursday, without explaining why the agreements were reached and announced without prior consultation.