ROBERT SIEGEL, host: The sentencing of confessed terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui has pushed another woman into today's headlines, and not for good reason, says senior news analyst Daniel Schorr.</s>DANIEL SCHORR reporting: What FEMA director Michael Brown came to symbolize in Hurricane Katrina, Carla Martin, lawyer for the Transportation Security Administration has come to symbolize in the War on Terror: incompetence in government.</s>DANIEL SCHORR reporting: Martin appears to have bungled her role in the government's campaign to obtain a death sentence for the only terrorist tried in this country in more than four years of pursuing the architects of the 9/11 attacks.</s>DANIEL SCHORR reporting: Zacarias Moussaoui was actually in jail on an immigration charge on September 11th, 2001. But, he admitted being an al-Qaida member and taking flying lessons in the hope of participating in future hijacking. After his guilty plea, all that remained was his sentence. And with families of victims observing from satellite sites in New York, Boston, Philadelphia and elsewhere, the government was arguing for the death penalty, the Defense asking for a life sentence.</s>DANIEL SCHORR reporting: That is what was going on in federal judge Leonie Brinkema's courtroom in Alexandria, Virginia. But the proceedings came to an abrupt halt with word that Martin had coached prospective witnesses on how to respond to questions in a way that would bolster the case for a death penalty.</s>DANIEL SCHORR reporting: Judge Brinkema has now barred these witnesses from testifying, and the prosecution is now considering whether there's any point in appealing her decision.</s>DANIEL SCHORR reporting: For most Americans, it may not matter much whether one would-be terrorist is executed or goes to prison for life. It matters a lot to many of the survivors' families, looking for what is called "closure." And what matters, too, is this further evidence of a dysfunctional government.</s>DANIEL SCHORR reporting: This is Daniel Schorr.
Daniel Schorr, a senior news analyst for NPR, says the bungled campaign to obtain a death sentence for Zacarias Moussaoui is the latest example of government incompetence in the war on terrorism, and an unfortunate turn of events for the families of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks.