The Pentagon has agreed to relax some of the arduous rules imposed upon private defense lawyers representing defendants in Guantanamo military tribunal proceedings. Among the most significant change is that defense lawyers will not have to sign an affidavit acknowledging that their conversations with their clients may be recorded.

The Pentagon has not dropped its insistence that agents can listen in, but the reworked rules are much more explicit about how the government chooses which suspects, if any, it will monitor, and which government agency will do the monitoring. A defense lawyer would be notified about planned electronic monitoring and could object to it at trial, [Miami Attorney Neal] Sonnett said.

Another big change: The Pentagon will remove the ban on private lawyers receiving help from their home offices or outside counsel in their representation of detainees at military tribunals, even if such lawyers are not on a Pentagon-approved list.

The new rules are not finalized yet, but here is the Pentagon's site on military commissions. You can read what's wrong with the current rules here.