War Secretary Pete Hegseth has appointed Deputy Secretary Steve Feinberg to take charge of the war crimes case involving the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, giving him the authority to determine whether the Pentagon should negotiate a plea deal that would avoid a full death-penalty trial, The New York Times reported Monday.

The move was detailed in a Nov. 10 memo reviewed by the Times.

Hegseth's decision effectively removes oversight from Susan Escallier, a retired Army general and Pentagon lawyer who handled the case.

Escallier had drawn criticism inside the department — including from former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin — for approving a plea agreement in the separate Sept. 11, 2001, case without Austin's blessing.

Austin rejected that deal in August 2024, and the defendants are appealing to reinstate it, further complicating an already strained military commissions system created after 9/11.

The Cole case centers on Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi accused of masterminding the Oct. 12, 2000, suicide attack that killed 17 American sailors on the destroyer while it was refueling in a Yemen harbor.

Nashiri has been in U.S. custody since 2002, and his trial is scheduled to begin June 1.

According to the Times, Nashiri's defense team submitted a plea proposal in December that would let him avoid a capital trial.

But Rear Adm. Aaron C. Rugh, the chief prosecutor, declined to forward the offer to Austin — who previously held authority over such decisions — and has not brought it to Hegseth either.

Nashiri's attorneys have since filed a motion accusing the prosecutor of failing to meet his obligations and have asked the judge to dismiss the case.

With Hegseth's new directive, Feinberg has sole authority to accept the proposed plea agreement, reject it outright, or enter negotiations.

The case has been bogged down in pretrial hearings since 2011, with multiple delays driven in part by litigation related to Nashiri's treatment in CIA custody and the admissibility of his statements.

Families of those killed or injured in the attack remain divided over whether a plea deal is acceptable. Some believe a negotiated resolution could avoid years of appeals that might overturn a conviction, while others say the case should proceed to a full capital trial.

Hegseth's memo also assigns limited oversight duties to two other senior Pentagon officials — Undersecretary for Policy Elbridge Colby and Assistant Secretary for Homeland Defense and Hemispheric Affairs Mark Roosevelt Ditlevson — letting Feinberg delegate decisions on funding for defense travel, investigative work, and related matters.