Biden hopes to close Gitmo, but where does he send the bad guys?

By Jamie McIntyre

Published February 5, 2021 4:00am ET

Biden hopes to close Gitmo, but where does he send the bad guys? — A Nigerien soldier provides rear security for his squad while they performed a dismounted patrol during Exercise Flintlock 2017 in Diffa, Niger, March 11, 2017. Flintlock exercises strengthen security institutions, promote multilateral sharing of information, and develop interoperability among partner nations in the Trans-Sahara. | U.S. Army photo by Spc. Zayid Ballesteros

President Biden, similar to former President Barack Obama 12 years ago, is hoping to close the military prison for terror suspects and enemy combatants at the United States Naval Station Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. But unlike Obama, he’s not making it a day-one priority.

In one of his first acts as president, Obama signed a 2009 executive order mandating that the detention facility, which he saw as a costly failure both in terms of wasted tax dollars and tarnished U.S. prestige abroad, be shuttered within a year.