Using the wi-fi connection at Starbucks was a better bet than risking putting confidential defence documents on a glitch-prone Pentagon computer network, a senior US defence chief says.

The internet link at the local Starbucks was "the best bad option that we had," Air Force Colonel Karen Mayberry told the judge at the trial of five prisoners charged with plotting the September 11 hijacked plane attacks.

Defence lawyers have asked the judge to halt pre-trial hearings in the death penalty case of the alleged plotters at the Guantanamo Bay US naval base until the computer system can be fixed to ensure that outsiders cannot access confidential defence documents.

Col Mayberry ordered her team of lawyers to stop putting sensitive documents on that system in April, citing their ethical obligation to protect confidentiality.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-20/starbucks-wifi-was-more-secure-than-pentagon-system/4970660