This is the outermost of the clothing compartments. It zips completely flat for loading. The compression straps are on the outside wall, with the organizer panel is on the inside wall. The interior wall behind the organizer panel has closed cell foam, so if a person who is a one bag ninja wants to use this compartment for papers and a laptop, they need to have a padded laptop case for insertion in this pocket. Because the zippers go completely around the side, you can still reach in if you move the zippers to one of the sides, so you don't have the exterior compression straps in the way.