Fort Leavenworth is one of two military installations being surveyed by Department of Defense.
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Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said a team was surveying the Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth on Friday and will do a similar assessment at the Naval Consolidated Brig in Charleston later this month.
Legally, the administration is still barred from transferring Guantanamo detainees to the United States, according to laws passed by Congress starting in 2010.
The Pentagon notified Congress on Friday that a Defense Department team is making the first of a series of visits to assess what types of facilities are needed to house detainees from Guantanamo Bay if the Obama administration succeeds in getting approval to close the facility, a congressional source told CNN. Cost is also a factor.
The U.S. facility will need to hold “about 50 of the detainees”, according to a U.S. defense official. “As the population at Guantanamo ages, for example, additional medical expenses are required, and the annual cost of keeping each detainee at Guantanamo goes up”, he added.
“I shut down this administration’s nominee for secretary of the Army in 2009 to prevent moving any detainees to Kansas and will do it again if necessary”, he said.
GOP lawmakers at the state and federal level issued statements or commented against any prisoners coming to Kansas. But that effort has faced persistent hurdles, including staunch opposition from Republicans and some Democrats in Congress and ongoing difficulties transferring out the dozens of detainees who have been cleared to leave.
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Building or modifying facilities to house Gitmo inmates is also prohibited in the United States. “This administration’s last-ditch effort to carry out President Obama’s reckless national security decision before he leaves office is disingenuous and flawed”. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said he has consistently objected “to the idea of moving these terrorists to the mainland, and more especially to Kansas”.
