On July 1, President Obama announced that he was nominating Matthew Olsen for the position of National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) director. Olsen has served in a number of national security-related government positions, including as the head of Obama’s Guantanamo Review Task Force.

As one of his first acts in office, Obama authorized the task force to review each Guantanamo detainee’s case files as his administration prepared to close down the detention facility within one year – a goal that proved to be unattainable for a variety of reasons. The task force made recommendations as to which detainees should be prosecuted (either in military commission or federal court), held indefinitely, or transferred to another country. (No detainees were approved for outright release.)