AG Holder Visits Federal Courthouse, Inspects Security

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder made a "surprise" visit to the federal courthouse and the Manhattan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan yesterday. Apparently he wanted to check out the digs—and the security—in advance of trying suspected 9/11 plotter Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and others.

The NY Times reports, "He met with security officials, including Raymond W. Kelly, the city’s police commissioner, and Joseph M. Demarest Jr., the assistant director in charge of the F.B.I.’s New York office, 'to discuss coordination, cooperation and security for the potential upcoming trials of the 9/11 terrorists,' said Special Agent Richard Kolko, an F.B.I. spokesman in New York," and remarked that the "visit, and the range of people he huddled with, reflected the government’s seriousness in approaching the as-yet-unscheduled trials and their potential to wreak havoc on a city battered by terrorism plots, successful and not." Take that, Cheney!

The Post says Holder looked at the cells that will hold KSM et al at the MCC. A Justice Department spokesman said, "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."