Manhattan, NY – NYPD: We Are Ready for 9/11 Terror Trial

Manhattan, NY – US Attorney General Eric Holder toured today the jail cells that will house suspected 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four terrorist cohorts in advance of their controversial Lower Manhattan trial.

After a meeting with law enforcement brass — including Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, New York FBI director Joseph Demarest and US Attorney Preet Bharara — Holder walked through the underground tunnel that connects the US District Court house on Pearl Street and the Metropolitan Correctional Center across the street, according to sources.

Amid tight security, Holder poked his head into the holding cells for the five suspects, who will be tried in federal district court in New York after they are transferred from a holding facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The courthouse is just several blocks away from the World Trade Center, which collapsed after the Twin Towers were struck by hijacked planes. Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the attack.

A grand jury began meeting last week to hear evidence presented by prosecutors from Manhattan’s southern district and Virginia’s eastern district, law enforcement sources said. After any indictment is handed up, the Justice Department has to notify Congress 45 days in advance before moving the suspects from Gunatanamo to the US.

Last month, the Justice Department announced that the trials will be held in New York, rather than by military tribunal, setting off sharp debate over whether security here could be adequately shored up to accommodate the terror trial and the role of the American justice system in trying foreign nationals accused of plotting against the United States.

“We have a robust plan developed by both federal and local officials to ensure that these trials can be safely held in New York, and everyone is committed to doing that,” said Matthew Miller a Justice Department spokesman.

“We’re ready,” said NYPD Chief Joseph Esposito, who attended the meeting.

A source said the NYPD is considering using Columbus Park, across from the courthouse, to hold the expected mob of news crews from around the world. Marshals may also screen courthouse visitors in tents outside the building, as was done after Sept. 11.

Another source said officials are weighing the possibility of holding the trial in a large, third-floor courtroom inside the old federal courthouse at 40 Centre St., which is currently closed for renovations.

Workers were replacing windows on the building with plywood today, but it’s unclear if the work is connected with the plan. Before the tour, Holder received a PowerPoint demonstration in an eighth-floor judicial dining room from US Marshal Joseph R. Guccione on how the defendants will be moved from the jail’s terrorist wing to the courthouse.