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Rumsfeld makes trial decisions for some detainees

By Barbara Starr
CNN Correspondent

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is ready to present to President Bush a plan on how to conduct the trials of suspected Taliban and al Qaeda terrorists, according to administration sources.

According to the sources, Rumsfeld wants to have several key principles followed and will send a plan to Bush for final approval.

Principles Rumsfeld has approved include the presumption that suspects are innocent until proven guilty; requiring a unanimous verdict for the death penalty; keeping tribunals open to the public unless classified information is discussed; and allowing hearsay evidence, with several qualifying factors still to be decided.

The White House could change those ideas, sources said.

The principles that Rumsfeld approved were some of the key recommendations presented to the defense secretary before the New Year's holiday.

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At Thursday's Pentagon briefing, Rumsfeld said he spent a "good deal of time" over the holidays studying the issue but did not give any specifics.

Asked if the military was prepared to administer the death penalty instead of the Justice Department, Rumsfeld said: "That is not an issue I've addressed."

Rumsfeld also is said to be very close to recommending that John Walker Lindh, the U.S. citizen captured with the Taliban in northern Afghanistan, be turned over to U.S. law enforcement. He is currently being held aboard the USS Bataan in the north Arabian Sea.

The first group of detainees expected to be sent to the naval base in Cuba is likely to be some individuals from the ship and some being held at the Kandahar airport, according to U.S. sources. Currently, there are 248 people in U.S. custody in Afghanistan or aboard the Bataan.

The timing is unclear, but Gen. Tommy Franks, the head of Central Command, would like the transfer to happen as soon as possible. The facility on Cuba could eventually be configured to hold 2,000 prisoners at a modification cost of $60 million.

The Army's Criminal Investigation Command has been appointed the "executive agent" for coordinating the military aspects of investigating the activities of any detainees and to coordinate those activities with domestic law enforcement.

Rumsfeld said that if the number of detainees proves to be more than the Guantanamo facility can handle, he said there were other bases under consideration, including some inside the United States.

According to U.S. officials, the Pentagon is looking very quietly at whether it needs to also plan for holding future detainees at military facilities inside the United States -- and what military bases inside the United States could be modified to house high security prisoners.

" I think we've got some facilities at U.S. military bases at the present time that have vacancies, and we're looking -- we'll take full advantage of those."

Rumsfeld said the facilities must be appropriate in terms of security, given that there have been several incidents where some of the detainees "have demonstrated their determination to kill themselves, kill others, and/or escape."

"They are very hard cases, for the most part," he said.