GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba — The Biden administration has repeatedly said it wants to shut down detainee operations at Guantanamo Bay completely, but large-scale construction is still underway at the naval base’s “Camp Justice” to support the planned trial against the alleged plotters behind al Qaeda’s terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Wendy Kelly, the chief of operations for the Office of Military Commissions, agreed in a discussion with reporters that the Expeditionary Legal Complex, the island war court at the base, was her “brainchild.” The legal complex was constructed in 2007 and first used in 2008. When asked by the Washington Examiner how the military commissions at Guantanamo Bay have responded to Biden’s desire to shut detainee operations down and whether she believed that a 9/11 trial will actually happen, Kelly gave the same answer: “OMC will follow the direction and guidance of the Department of Defense leadership. We continue to proceed towards trial.”