Defense Department Reaches Plea Deal With Three 9/11 Defendants

One of the three, Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, is the former head of al-Qaeda’s propaganda department and is accused of masterminding the Sept. 11 attacks.

An image released by the U.S. military on July 16, 2009, shows a 'Camp Justice' sign near the high-security courtroom in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the pre-trial sessions for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his four co-defendants, charged for the 9/11 attacks, will be held. Mandel Ngan-Pool/Getty Images

Three defendants allegedly involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks have entered into a plea deal with the Department of Defense (DOD) after years of incarceration at Guantanamo Bay.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed and many thousands more injured in the coordinated Islamist suicide attacks carried out by al-Qaeda on U.S. soil in 2001.