Now you see it, now you don't

Carol Rosenberg

Another story from Guantanamo: a military judge has approved the redaction of 18% of a transcript of open-court proceedings. Details here from Guantanamo press corps dean Carol Rosenberg. Excerpt:

At issue was five hours of uncontested open-court testimony by a Colorado National Guard soldier about restrictions on using female guards in the 9/11 case. Reporters, Sept. 11 families and other members of the public heard a soldier called "Staff Sgt. Jinx" testify on a 40-second audio delay designed to let the judge or a court security officer mute the sound if anyone spilled national security secrets. 

No one ever pushed the button. But when the Pentagon released a 379-page transcript weeks later, about 18 percent of what was said was covered up by black redactions. After media organizations filed a legal motion challenging after-the-fact censorship, the security personnel re-scrubbed it and restored all but 6 percent of the 45,000-word transcript.