As Congress debates proposals to deny funding for civilian trials of the accused terrorists behind the Sept. 11 attacks, Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates have written a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) saying that selecting the venue for the prosecution of terror suspects is a function of the executive branch.

“The exercise of prosecutorial discretion has always been and should remain an Executive branch function,” write Gates and Holder. “We believe it would be unwise and would set a dangerous precedent for Congress to restrict the discretion of our Departments to carry out specific terrorism prosecutions.”

“Indeed, we have been unable to identify any precedent in the history of our nation in which Congress has intervened in such a manner to prohibit the prosecution of particular persons or crimes,” write Holder and Gates.

The letter was reported by Adam Serwer of The American Prospect and is embedded below.

Gates-Holder Letter 022510

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said defense and intelligence officials had the opportunity to object to a decision to criminally indict alleged Christmas Day airplane bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. But no one registered objections at a Jan. 5 meeting with President Barack Obama, Gibbs said.

Robert Gibbs (White House)

“I will say that anybody that wanted or needed to register their concern, the notion that somehow a forum wasn’t readily available to register anybody’s concern doesn’t certainly comport the way I understand events, having been in the room watching those present have an opportunity to ask questions about those procedures,” Gibbs said at a White House news briefing Monday.

The meeting was held in the White House Situation Room to review the intelligence failures that led to the accused al-Qaeda associate being allowed to board a Detroit-bound commercial airliner with explosives in his underwear.  Attorney General Eric Holder, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, CIA Director Leon Panetta, and Director of the National Counterterrorism Center Michael E. Leiter attended, Gibbs said.

Gibbs’s remarks lent support to a Los Angeles Times article today that said CIA officials were at the table with DOJ officials before a decision was made to read Abdulmutallab his Miranda rights, a move that has sparked fierce criticism from Republicans and some administration officials, including Blair.

Asked if the administration had ruled out treating Abdulmutallab as an “enemy combatant” without the protections accorded criminal defendants, Gibbs said: “I think that very experienced interrogators at the FBI made decisions about interrogation, and the Department of Justice made determinations to seek an indictment, and the President believes that’s the appropriate place.”

Gibbs did note there is precedent for reversing such decisions, citing the Jose Padilla and Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri cases.

After the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the government charged U.S. citizen Jose Padilla, who was believed to have trained with al-Qaeda, with terrorism offenses. Later Padilla was sent to military custody for three and a half years. In 2007, Padilla was convicted in federal court in Miami of conspiracy to kill and sentenced to prison. Al-Marri likewise was arrested after the 9/11 attacks on suspicion of working with al-Qaeda, then later held in military custody. Last year he pleaded guilty in federal court in Illinois to supporting al-Qaeda.

Pressed whether the administration believed there’s “no more intelligence to be gained” from Abdulmutallab, Gibbs was more cryptic. “The White House is satisfied that the process of gaining that intelligence is working,” he said.

Gibbs also said Monday that “no decision” has been made to transfer the trial of accused 9/11 conspirator Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others out of New York City, despite news reports to the contrary last week. “[D]ecisions that are being reported as having been made have not been made,” Gibbs said.

The Obama administration has been methodically deploying cabinet officials to score political points for quite a while now.  This strategic deployment has been especially common for top DOJ officials, as we have reported in the past.  Among other things, there was Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli touting a tribal justice initiative in Niagara Falls and Perrelli traveling to Detroit to support the auto industry and announce a $10 million grant for more Detroit police officers.  Most recently, Deputy Attorney General David Ogden was sent to take part in the “dog and pony show” that was the Indian artifacts raid.

President Obama laughs as Eric Holder jokes about their rivalry on the basketball court at Holder's installation ceremony in March at George Washington University. (Getty Images)

Attorney General Eric Holder has been especially visible in supporting President Obama.  Whether it be traveling with him to publicize stimulus grants, pledging to follow-through on the President’s pledges to the Muslim community, or sitting back and letting Obama call the shots, one thing is clear: Holder’s got the President’s back.

And now, Holder’s back on the road pushing Obama’s latest issue: community service, telling Philadelphians yesterday to get in the helping spirit.  Holder was promoting the President’s new program aimed at increasing volunteerism across the nation United We Serve.  Other high profile names were out promoting the initiative as well, including First Lady Michelle Obama, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.

You can watch Michelle Obama’s introduction of the program below:

Attorney General Eric Holder held an unannounced meeting at the Justice Department today with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other senior administration officials to discuss plans to shutter the Guantanamo Bay military prison by next January.

The meeting of the Guantanamo Bay Detainee Review Task Force also included FBI Director Robert Mueller, CIA Director Leon Panetta, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, White House Counsel Gregory Craig, Department of Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Randy Beers and Justice Department national security division veteran Matthew Olsen, the executive director of the task force.

The officials also talked about the “standards for detainee reviews, factors that will be considered in prioritizing detainee reviews, and progress that has been achieved thus far,� according to a statement from the Justice Department.

The Associated Press elaborates:

According to an official familiar with the process, detainees are being grouped into categories, and government officials from multiple agencies are being grouped into teams assigned to examine particular categories of detainees.

The review teams would then make recommendations to the Guantanamo task force. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the deliberations are private.

If a review team cannot reach a consensus on a particular detainee, the case will go to the Cabinet-level officials to reach a decision, the official said.

Holder, who visited Guantanamo Bay last month, told the Associated Press that he vowed to close the facility and handle the 240 people imprisoned there “in a way that ensures that people are treated fairly and that the American people are kept safe.”