The Guantanamo Bay detention facility is again under scrutiny as President Biden looks to fulfill a campaign promise, which was first made by former President Barack Obama, to close the prison and relocate some 40 terrorist collaborators despite congressional opposition.
“We are undertaking an NSC process to assess the current state of play that the Biden administration has inherited from the previous administration, in line with our broader goal of closing Guantanamo,” National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne said on Friday.
Horne explained that a variety of key policy positions must first be filled within the national security agencies, including the Defense Department, State Department, and Justice Department, before headway can be made on possibly shuttering the facility, which has been the target of Democrats’ ire since shortly after former President George W. Bush’s administration began sending terrorist leaders and operatives there following the 9/11 attacks.
“There will be a robust interagency process to move forward on this, but we need to have the right people seated to do this important work,” Horne said.
The NSC will be working with multiple agencies and “in close consultation with Congress” to make progress toward closing the facility that has housed 9/11 terrorists and collaborators for nearly two decades, she added.
‘Not just a tweet’
In a January briefing at U.S. Southern Command headquarters in Miami, the Washington Examiner was briefed more about the role of the 1,500 personnel at Joint Task Force-Guantanamo in Cuba.
“Joint Task Force Guantanamo is a no-fail mission for us,” a SouthCom official said. “We are responsible for the safe, humane, and ethical treatment of detainees.”
The detention facility and support structure are housed at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, the American naval base on leased Cuban land whose existence dates back to the end of the Spanish-American War.
The briefer said the command cannot unilaterally close the facility nor make adjustments to policies governing detainee presence.
“We carry out policy. We do not write the policy. The policy is written by the Office of Military Commissions,” the briefer added, referring to the Pentagon office responsible for trying accused terrorist detainees on the base.
A SouthCom official told the Washington Examiner Friday that closing the facility is no easy task.
“That’s a process, right? And that’s not just a tweet somewhere,” the official said, with a jab at former President Donald Trump and his former social media habit. “It has to be an actual written document that’s proofed and agreed upon and move forward.”
The massive manpower required to care for the detainees on the island includes National Guard and Reserve, active-duty service members, contractors, and civilians.
Since the government of Cuba protests the continued American presence at the base, the gate to the outside community is closed, and with it all potential services that could be contracted locally at lower cost, such as medical care and supplies. That care and necessary supplies for DOD staff and detainees are instead flown in from the U.S. and billed to taxpayers.
Releases began under Bush
“Since President Bush, they have been releasing detainees,” the spokesman said. “That was something that President Obama worked very hard on, and he said, ‘We’re going to close Guantanamo Bay.'”
Detainees labeled “enemy combatants” first arrived to a temporary prison at Guantanamo Bay called Camp X-Ray in January 2002 and came to number 780, according to Human Rights Watch.
Bush worked with a system known as the periodic review board, and diplomats negotiated globally to transfer 533 detainees home or to third countries. Obama transferred 144 more but failed to release the final 40 that remain today, including the so-called “9/11 Five” who allegedly plotted the Sept. 11 attacks.
When Biden was vice president, Obama’s attempt to close the facility was blocked by Congress, which restricted the use of funds and prevented the transfer of Guantanamo Bay detainees to the continental United States.
In the intervening years, hundreds of detainees have served time and been relocated to third countries, which have mostly kept close tabs on them with regular updates to State Department personnel.
Closing the facility means figuring out what to do with some of the most dangerous remaining terrorists, including 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and winning support from a Congress beleaguered by the threats of domestic terrorists.
For now, the spokesman said detention center guards will continue the daily rhythm that began some 19 years ago.
“They are going to continue that mission until the direction from higher to change that mission,” he said. “There has to be a lot of work put into making the changes that are possibly desired by this administration.”
