Military judge cites rising extremism as reason for delaying 9/11 mastermind's trial

Air Force judge Michael Schrama, who oversees the military commission for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, nullified the suspect’s 2007 confession on voluntariness grounds and scheduled the trial for June 2028, moving it beyond the planned January 2027 start. Schrama, known for his 2023 essay on rising extremist activity in the armed forces, argued that conservative, isolated military cultures make personnel vulnerable to far-right recruitment, citing a CSIS report that military members accounted for 17.6% of domestic terrorism plots.

He advocated for a codified offense within the Uniform Code of Military Justice to tackle this threat. The ruling, kept private until recently, drew criticism from journalist Gerald Posner and White House senior advisor Stephen Mueller, who labeled the judicial process broken. The case, already delayed for years, involves three co-defendants and marks the fifth judge assigned since 2025. Military Commissions Convening Authority spokesperson Ronald Flesvig declined to comment on the decision or Schrama’s essay.