The long saga of America's post-9/11 trials is still not over. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin last week nixed a plea deal involving terror plotter Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, known as KSM, and two of his co-defendants, said The Washington Post. That came after a "severe backlash" to an agreement that critics said would let the accused terrorists escape the death penalty. Austin overruled and removed the judge who oversaw the deal. 

The court cases against the 9/11 plotters have been "fraught with delays and complications," said Vox. One reason: torture. The case against KSM is complicated by the fact that he was waterboarded by American interrogators. Judges have had to hear whether confessions submitted under duress will be allowed. 

The raw trauma of 9/11
The 9/11 terrorists "should have been brought to justice long ago," the National Review said. In 2008, KSM and his co-defendants attempted to plead guilty before the military tribunal set up after the terrorist attacks. Then-President Barack Obama tried to shut down the tribunal and move the case to a federal civilian court, only to be blocked by Congress. The defendants "lawyered up" when the case went back to the tribunal. "Thus, Obama forfeited America's best chance at executing the 9/11 plotters," said the Review.

Instead, President George W. Bush created the tribunals and sent suspects to CIA black sites "rather than letting law enforcement handle a massacre on American soil," Matthew Petti said at Reason. Those decisions were understandable while the "trauma of 9/11 was still so raw." But after more than two decades, the choices may have "prevented this wound from ever healing," he added.

'The finality we all deserve' 
Some Republicans have praised Austin's decision to reverse the plea deal, said Politico. The Biden-Harris administration is "correct to reverse course," said House Speaker Mike Johnson, urging the White House to "deliver long-awaited justice for 9/11 families." Some of those families also praised Austin's decision, though other groups said the reversal deprived them of the "finality and accountability we all deserve."

The Russian plane that landed in Moscow last week as part of the biggest prisoner exchange with the U.S. since the Cold War carried "spies, assassins and criminals," said The Guardian. It also carried two "wide-eyed and confused" children. 

Sofia, 11, and Daniel, 8, were raised in a seemingly Argentinian family, completely unaware their parents were actually Russian and part of an "elaborate network of deep-cover sleeper spies." Their parents — real names Anna Dultseva and Artem Dultsev — are one of the most high-profile cases of Russian "illegals" since the collapse of the Soviet Union. 

What are 'illegals'?
Most spies are "legals," working as diplomats in their respective countries' foreign embassies while secretly gathering intelligence. "Illegals" are undercover agents who live under false identities, sometimes for decades, like the Dultsevs. 

Sleeper agents were often planted with "no clear mission" — a "hidden reserve force" that could be activated in a crisis, said Marjan Miklavcic, the former head of Slovenia's military intelligence, to The New York Times. That makes them Russia's "most prized assets," said The Guardian. 

How are they trained? 
Illegals spend about six years training intensively to perfect their cover stories, including mastering the languages and mannerisms of their new nationalities. It's an "expensive and detailed process," said Business Insider, but one detail is "almost impossible to eliminate": accents. 

The Dultsevs reportedly spoke flawless Spanish. But Vladimir Guryev, arrested for espionage in 2010 while posing as American student Richard Murphy, "looked like Boris Yeltsin and had a heavy Russian accent," his teacher said to The New York Times. 

What now? 
Recent years have been "awful" for Russian "legals," said The Economist, with about 600 diplomats expelled from embassies across Europe since the invasion of Ukraine. Experts believe that Russia is "gearing up" its deep-cover program as an alternative, said Business Insider. It's increasingly sourcing its fake identities from South America, where corruption is "rife" and the Kremlin can "count on the support of decades-old allies." 

Vladimir Putin, a former KGB foreign intelligence officer, has "thrown huge resources at this quite eccentric priority," said Calder Walton, the director of research for the Intelligence Project at Harvard's Kennedy School. He has a "real fetish" for illegals, Walton said to The New York Times.