US authorities have been accused of attempting to avoid a potentially embarrassing court battle over how long the government could hold a US citizen without charges.
Authorities have charged Jose Padilla, a US citizen, under civilian law after he was held in military custody as an "enemy combatant" for more than three years.
Padilla's lawyers were about to take the issue to the Supreme Court.
Eric Freedman, a professor at Hofstra Law School, said the Padilla indictment was an effort by the administration "to avoid an adverse decision of the Supreme Court."
Absent from the indictment were the sensational allegations made earlier by top Justice Department officials: that Padilla sought to blow up US hotels and apartment buildings and planned an attack on America with a radiological "dirty bomb."
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales wouldn't say why none of those allegations were included in the indictment, commenting only on the charges that were returned by a Miami grand jury against Padilla and four other alleged members of a terror cell.
The charges are the latest twist in a case pitting the Bush administration's claim that the war on terrorism gives the government extraordinary powers to protect its citizens, on one side, against those who say the government can't be allowed to label Americans "enemy combatants" and hold them indefinitely without charges that can be fought in court.