Communities Should Know What May Be Coming on Guantanamo

Word is that President Obama will likely submit to Congress this week his proposal for how to shut down detention/interrogation operations at Guantanamo Bay.  That plan will, in all likelihood, entail bringing some of the detainees currently held at Gitmo to a yet-to-be-named prison facility within the United States.

Current law prevents him from initiating such a transfer.  Assuming he signs, rather than vetoes, the FY 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, and accompanying appropriations measures that maintain the restrictions now in effect, he will remain legally barred from bringing Gitmo detainees stateside throughout 2016.

That of course assumes that Obama will follow the law.  He’s hinting, however, that he won’t.

Press Secretary Josh Earnest said recently that the President has not ruled out closing Gitmo via executive order, circumventing Congress yet again.

It makes sense, therefore, that despite the NDAA’s passage in the Senate this week, and Earnest expressing doubt that Obama would veto the NDAA a second time despite the Gitmo transfer restrictions with which Obama disagrees, Members of Congress whose constituents may be asked to accommodate Gitmo detainees in their communities want those communities to have as full an understanding as possible of what may be forced on them in the near future.

So this week, Reps. Mike Pompeo (R-KS) and Lynn Jenkins (R-KS) wrote to Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter requesting that a delegation of federal, state and local officials from the Leavenworth, Kansas area – home of the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks and Midwest Joint Regional Corrections Facility, one of several U.S. sites that Obama is considering as a transfer destination – be allowed to visit Gitmo to learn what may be in store for the Leavenworth area.  From their letter:

“…One potential destination for the terrorists currently held at GTMO is the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.  If the detainees are transferred there, the dire consequences of this move will be felt by Leavenworth and the surrounding communities long after the end of the current administration.  It will be the state and local officials who will be left to deal the predictable aftermath that comes with bringing these detainees to the Leavenworth community, such as an increased risk of terror attacks and a severe strain on our relationships with allied military commanders.  It is critical that officials and residents have a complete understanding of what may be foisted upon them before a final decision is reached.”

“To that end, we strongly request your assistance in arranging a delegation of federal, state, and local officials from the Leavenworth area to travel to GTMO to observe the camp and its detainees and its safety measures.  We believe that state legislators, county commissioners, mayors, and other local officials have the right to completely understand what their communities will face.  These officials need to visit the GTMO facility, receive unclassified briefings of known threats, and be given as much access to information regarding the detainees as is feasible…”

Seems entirely reasonable.  We’ll see if Secretary Carter thinks so.