Hagel: Yemen unrest could hurt efforts to empty Gitmo

Just hours before Hagel took questions from the press, CNN and other news outlets reported that the Houthi rebels had secured the resignation of Yemen’s top officials.

In recent days the instability and potential violent overthrow of the Yemeni government prompted the U.S. to station two warships, the USS Fort McHenry and the USS Iwo Jima, off the Yemen coast to be able to quickly evacuate U.S. embassy staff if the situation deteriorated.

The Pentagon said as of Thursday afternoon, the ships were still off the coast, and it referred calls about whether the embassy had been evacuated to the State Department.

The U.S. Embassy ordered some staff to leave Yemen in September when the Houthi rebels first took control of Yemen’s capital, Sana’a.

The State Department said Thursday afternoon that “there has been no change in our security posture. We are continuing to closely monitor developments in Yemen and will adjust the embassy’s security posture response in accordance to the situation on the ground.”

But the administration has factored Yemen’s increasing instability into its decisions on whether to transfer Guantanamo detainees there, and “we don’t send them back to Yemen,” Hagel said.

“Because of what’s happening in Yemen — and we are well aware of the danger and uncertainty of what’s going on in Yemen before today — that has to be factored in.” But the problem for the Obama administration, which is trying to close the detention center, is finding a suitable location to transfer the detainees to.

Of the 122 detainees who remain at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, “many are Yemenis,” Hagel said. “Here’s the point … what country is willing to host these detainees” that would have the resources and capabilities to satisfy the many U.S. intelligence, diplomatic and defense agencies that must sign off on any transfers.

This article was originally posted at 3:30 p.m. and has been updated.