Guantánamo Hearing Cut Short by Crisis on Defense Team in U.S.S. Cole Case

A military judge allowed the lead lawyer to leave next month, but his successor has not yet received the security clearance she needs to take over his responsibilities.

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Anthony J. Natale, 72, asked to leave the case to retire next month, describing himself as “tired and burned out.”

A military judge on Friday cut short pretrial proceedings in the U.S.S. Cole bombing case and allowed the lead lawyer to retire next month, creating a potential vacuum in the defense staff as it prepares for a trial in 2025 in Guantánamo’s longest-running death-penalty case.

The lawyer, Anthony J. Natale, 72, had asked to leave the case to retire. But the judge initially ordered him to remain on the job until his replacement, Allison F. Miller, is fully in charge of the defense team, at a date uncertain.

Then on Friday, after holding private talks with defense team members, the judge agreed to let Mr. Natale leave the case on Sept. 14. Defense lawyers say the early release was triggered by a crisis in leadership on the defense team during this period of transition.

Mr. Natale has served as “learned counsel” in the case, which means he has expertise in defending people at death-penalty trials. Brig. Gen. Jackie L. Thompson, who runs Guantánamo defense teams, hired Ms. Miller to replace Mr. Natale in that role. But the government has not yet given her a security clearance to practice law at the national security court. Until then, she cannot meet the prisoner, Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri, or see classified information in the case.

It was too early to know what impact, if any, the surprise development would have on the judge’s plan to start the trial in October 2025, the 25th anniversary of Al Qaeda’s suicide bombing, which killed 17 sailors off Yemen. Other obstacles remain as well, notably a prosecution appeal seeking reinstatement of confessions that the previous military judge had excluded as obtained through torture.

Col. Matthew S. Fitzgerald, the judge, had originally planned a four-week hearing in the case but reduced the session to two weeks. Then on Friday, he ended the session after just three days. He called Mr. Natale “competent and capable” but noted there had been “a fracturing of internal team dynamics,” and that he anticipated an “upcoming pause” in the case as Ms. Miller takes over.

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