Topline
President Biden has quietly launched efforts to begin closing Guantanamo Bay in pursuit of his goal to shutter the controversial U.S. military prison in Cuba by the end of his term, NBC News reported Wednesday.
U.S. Army Military Police escort a detainee to his cell January 11, 2001 in Camp X-Ray at Naval Base ... [+]
Key Facts
People familiar with discussions about Guantanamo’s future told NBC News that Biden is taking a different approach than former President Barack Obama, who was stymied by congressional opposition from closing the prison for suspected terrorists.
Instead of an aggressive push to close the facility initially planned by Biden officials, the new administration is hoping to quietly transfer out the handful of remaining terrorism suspects held there to foreign countries, according to the report.
The Biden administration will then sign an executive order directing the facility’s closure and will attempt to persuade Congress to permit the transfer of the rest of the prisoners to U.S.-based detention facilities, the anonymous sources told NBC News.
Again diverging from Obama, NBC News reported the administration is “leaning against” giving the option of transferring detainees to U.S. military installations and will likely instead propose that detainees who can’t be transferred to foreign countries should be moved to Supermax security prisons on the U.S. mainland.
Biden officials have also decided not to create a parallel office and envoy for closing the facility at the Pentagon like the Obama administration did, and are instead considering appointing a State Department envoy, according to the report.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Forbes.
Crucial Quote
“They don’t want it to become a dominant issue that blows up,” a former senior administration official involved in the discussions told NBC News of the approach from Biden officials. “They don’t want it to become a lightning rod. They want it to be methodical, orderly.”
Key Background
Obama was much more public with his plan for closing the prison, which was set up in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and has since been widely condemned as a symbol of human rights abuses. After declaring his intention to shut down Guantanamo Bay within his first year in office, Obama was blocked by Congress, which resisted his request to transfer out the detainees. He did, however, significantly decrease the population of the prison from 245 to 41 inmates, transferring many of them to foreign countries. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to keep the prison open and transferred away just one detainee during his tenure. Biden again picked up the cause when he took office, launching a review of the prison in February and outlining his intention to have it closed by the end of his time in the White House.
Further Reading
“Biden quietly moves to start closing Guantánamo ahead of 20th anniversary of 9/11” (NBC News)
“U.S. considering envoy for closing Guantanamo prison” (Reuters)
