Obama Weighs 9/11 Military Trials

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said President Barack Obama hasn't ruled out a civilian trial in New York. But he said "a series of things are being looked at" in light of security and logistical concerns, and of bipartisan efforts in Congress to shut off funding for civilian trials.

Mr. Gibbs added that changes by the Obama administration to the military-commission rules established by the Bush administration would "ensure the type of protections that would withstand constitutional and Supreme Court scrutiny."

"One way or the other, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be brought to justice by these decisions," Mr. Gibbs said, referring to the alleged 9/11 mastermind.

The concession is another setback for the administration after protests from New York forced the White House to retreat from holding the trial of Mr. Mohammed and others in federal court in lower Manhattan.

The shift in tone is striking. When Attorney General Eric Holder announced in November that the 9/11 suspects would stand trial just blocks from where the World Trade Center once stood, he said it would be a crowning achievement for the U.S. judicial system. In an interview with the Washington Post, Mr. Holder reiterated that was still his preferred option.

But in a transcript of that interview released Friday by the Justice Department, Mr. Holder pointedly didn't foreclose the possibility that the plotters would go before a military court.