Military Commissions and Timely Transparency: Video, Transcripts, Motion Papers, Rulings

A while back Ben posted about the pressing need for “radical transparency” in the military commissions process. It’s time to say it again:  The Pentagon must make it much easier for outsiders to follow the details of military commission trials (and pretrial litigation) if it hopes to enhance their legitimacy.  The status quo approach—with a limited number of journalists and human rights monitors traveling to GTMO to watch in person or by CCTV—certainly won’t do the trick (as Ben has pointed out, this audience entails no small number of fierce critics of the commission system).  And forget about getting access to the actual filings.  You can’t exactly go on PACER to get those, and don’t hold your breath waiting for things to appear on the commission website quick enough to matter for the news cycle. I mention all this today because of this news report, which includes the following bits:

Another defense official said the Pentagon was considering allowing reporters to watch a closed-circuit video feed of the proceedings outside of Washington. ...In previous tribunal hearings, reporters watching the video monitors are not allowed to record the proceedings and broadcasters are not permitted to air the footage. Defense officials say the restrictions are required due to security precautions. ...The Pentagon also has promised news outlets that legal motions and other relevant documents will be posted promptly on the military commissions’ official website.

I hope that last part in particular is true; you’re not going to get a lot of analysis out of this blog, or elsewhere, if those documents just aren’t available to us.  Same for the rulings as they are made, whether by written opinions or transcripts of oral rulings.  Indeed, the transcripts of all unclassified proceedings can and should be made available to the public as fast as possible, particularly if the most the Pentagon plans to do by way of broadcasts is to create a small overflow capacity for those who happen to be able to spend day after day in some facility in Northern Virginia for that purpose.