[JURIST] The US Army Court of Criminal Appeals has ruled [opinion, PDF] that the lawyers for US Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl should be allowed access to classified materials. In an opinion made public Saturday, the three-judge court upheld the military judge’s issuance of a protective order and access order against claims by the prosecution that the lower court erred in allowing unauthorized disclosure of and unfettered access to classified information. The court found that “neither the military judge’s Access Order nor his Protective Order ‘direct the disclosure of classified information’ which has not been subject to a reasonable opportunity to review for potential assertion of government privilege.” More specifically, the court stated that this national security check had not been diminished, as the government may still claim that disclosure of certain classified materials is harmful and should not be released. The court also stated that defense counsel must “meet the requirements of federal law, executive orders, and policies to access classified information” and were thus not unfettered in their access.

Sergeant Bergdahl [BBC profile] is currently facing a court martial for desertion and endangering fellow troops after he left his post in 2009 and is potentially facing a life sentence. Bergdahl’s actions in 2009 resulted in a huge manhunt in Afghanistan, which ultimately led to his capture by the Taliban’s Haqqani Network [CNN backgrounder] insurgents in June 2009. Bergdahl was imprisoned for nearly five years in eastern Afghanistan. During the time he was held as prisoner, Bergdahl appeared in six videos [advocacy website] released by the Taliban, the only indication that he was still alive. In March of last year the US military charged [JURIST report] Bergdahl with “desertion with intent to shirk important or hazardous duty” and “misbehavior before the enemy by endangering the safety of a command, unit, or place.” Bergdahl was exchanged [JURIST report] in 2014 for five Taliban members who were held at the Guantanamo Bay detention complex.