A Senate Republican is preventing the confirmation of another one of President Obama’s nominees to serve in the Pentagon over her opposition to Obama’s effort to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay.
Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., announced on Monday that she would place a hold on the nomination of Jennifer O’Connor to be the Defense Department’s general counsel until Congress receives an overdue report on the individuals still detained at Gitmo.
“I renew my call for the administration to level with the American people regarding the detainees who remain at Guantanamo and submit the overdue transparency report that is required by law,” Ayotte wrote in a letter to Defense Secretary Ash Carter.
Her request follows a Pentagon announcement on Monday that two detainees were transferred to Senegal, bringing the total population of the prison to 89.
The Obama administration has transferred 18 detainees this year, and delivered a report to Congress in February in an effort to make good on a campaign promise to close the military prison in Cuba.
The fiscal year 2016 defense authorization bill includes a section that required the administration to deliver an unclassified report to Congress by January about the prior terrorist activities and affiliations of those still detained at Guantanamo Bay. The report is now more than two months late, Ayotte wrote.
The only information the administration currently releases after a transfer is the name of the detainee and the country that is taking them.
“The administration does not provide information regarding the detainee’s previous terrorist activities and associations, previous assessments of the detainee’s risk level to the U.S. and our allies or their behavior while in detention. The American people do not even know if the terrorist will be further detained or released,” Ayotte wrote.
On Monday, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook repeatedly declined to answer questions about whether the two prisoners transferred to Senegal would be further detained, saying that the U.S. does not discuss specifics of security agreements surrounding transfers.
Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., has placed a hold on Obama’s nomination of Eric Fanning to be Army secretary until he receives assurances that no Guantanamo Bay prisoners will be housed at a prison in his home state.
