The Department of Defense notified lawmakers today that teams will visit Fort Leavenworth and the Naval Brig in Charleston, South Carolina to conduct “site surveys” looking into transferring a “limited number” of Guantanamo detainees, according to Fox News.
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First up was Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and is planning to tour the naval brig in Charleston, South Carolina next week. To do so, however, would mean Congress agreeing to change a law that prohibits the transfer of any detainees from Guantanamo to the United States.
Transferring the remaining 116 detainees to the U.S.is being considered as an option for closing Guantanamo Bay.
“These visits will also help refine our baseline standard for what a facility should look like to inform potential selection of other locations to evaluate in the future”, the Defense Department notification read.
The latest surveys come a week after a draft Pentagon plan to provide potential locations for the detainees was stymied when the administration said the Thomson Correctional Center in Illinois was off the table, according to officials. Cost is also a factor. “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. Leavenworth. In 2009, he fought the administration, including placing legislative holds on nominees, and successfully prevented the administration’s plan to consider housing detainees at Ft. “The citizens of Kansas do not support moving terrorists to the Heartland of America”. 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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Senator Pat Roberts fired back against the possible relocation of prisoners to American soil saying the move “reflects another egregious overstep by this administration”, “Congress has consistently stopped Obama by law from moving a single detainee to the U.S.”, he said. Moving the prisoners to other countries requires congressional notification and unanimous sign off by the departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Justice and State, along with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
