The State Department on Tuesday announced the appointment of Lee Wolosky to be the department’s special envoy for closing the terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The Obama administration has made it clear it wants to close the detention center, and has been slowly releasing detainees as other nations agree to take the prisoners. Those decisions have led to criticism from Republicans who say the administration can’t be sure that these detainees won’t return to the fight against the United States.
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But the administration has ignored those complaints and has continued its negotiations to find other homes for those prisoners. Secretary of State John Kerry said Wolosky would help the department continue those talks.
“Lee Wolosky is a highly-skilled and experienced attorney who served as the National Security Council’s Director for Transnational Threats under Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush,” Kerry said in a statement. “He is ideally qualified to continue the hard diplomatic engagement that is required to close Guantanamo in accordance with President Obama’s directives.”
“Lee will assume lead responsibility for arranging for the transfer of Guantanamo detainees abroad and for implementing transfer determinations, and overseeing the State Department’s participation in the periodic reviews of those detainees who are not approved for transfer,” he said.
Kerry said Wolosky would also stay in touch with members of Congress as his efforts continue.
In mid-June, reports surfaced that the White House is working with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to close the facility, but the White House declined to confirm that. There is some support in Congress for language requiring the White House to spell out its plan for shuttering the facility, and lay out details on what it would do with future terrorist detainees.
