Concertina wire is overgrown with foliage in the now abandoned Camp X-Ray, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba which was used as the first detention facility for al-Qaida and Taliban militants who were captured after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Concertina wire is overgrown with foliage in the now abandoned Camp X-Ray, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba which was used as the first detention facility for al-Qaida and Taliban militants who were captured after the Sept. 11 attacks. AP Photo/Charles Dharapak

White House Delays Plan to Close Guantanamo, Again

The long-awaited plan, due this past week, has been delayed indefinitely.

Obama administration officials once again have put an indefinite hold on submitting to Congress their plan to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

White House officials have been telling lawmakers for at least five months that they’re in the “final stages” of drafting the plan to close the facility. After delaying the plan to conduct surveys of potential alternative sites in Colorado, South Carolina and Kansas, officials and lawmakers said it would come this past week. Now, the plan has been held and is not expected until sometime in the next month.

White House and Pentagon officials wouldn’t comment on the reason for the pause, but previous delays have been due to decisions to flesh out the plan with more details, particularly on costs.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said, “I don’t have any additional guidance for you beyond just letting you know that the promised plan that we said that we’d present to Congress is something that will come relatively soon.”

“We’re looking to have it potentially soon,” Pentagon spokesman Cmdr. Gary Ross said Friday, but “nothing imminent.”

Obama is wheels up for the G20 meeting in Turkey and several other stops until Nov. 23, but that doesn’t rule out the plan being released while the president is gone, officials said. The Pentagon will take the lead on the rollout, having conducted the surveys that informed the plan and been “principally responsible” for the drafting, Earnest said Thursday. He said that doesn’t reflect any diminished importance to Obama.

“This was the highest-profile announcement that the president made on his second full day in office, his commitment to closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay,” he said, adding it is “a top priority for the president personally.”

While insisting the plan is “no big mystery,” he said to expect “a carefully considered, thoughtful plan that will include some specifics that heretofore have not been previously discussed.”

Having the Defense Department submit the plan to Congress emphasizes the security side of the detainee issue, in order to help defuse the political outcry.

The delay may have cost the administration its most important ally for the push to close Guantanamo, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. The Senate Armed Services Committee chairman has grown increasingly frustrated with the delays to a plan he has demanded for years.

“From what I’m hearing, it’s a series of options, which is of course a bad joke … we want a plan. Where do you want to send them?” he said. “How am I supposed to consider five or six different places? That’s not a plan, that’s a Chinese menu.”

McCain told Defense One in early June that the White House was drafting the plan. He tried to introduce language into the annual defense authorization bill, or NDAA, that would’ve provided the president the authority to achieve his goal — if the White House submitted the plan and Congress approved it. But the NDAA moved through Congress quickly, the plan never came, and the president will sign the bill into law, the White House said, likely early this week.

The bill adds new restrictions and extends existing ones designed to make it more difficult for the administration to continue to chip away at the 107 detainees who remain at Guantanamo. The administration insists it will continue to use transfers to other countries, and on Sunday moved five detainees to the United Arab Emirates. But the bill extends the ban transferring detainees to the U.S., as well as using any funds to modify existing facilities or construct new ones to hold detainees on U.S. soil.

Obama’s signature on the NDAA will lock in this legislative freeze on Guantanamo, which lawmakers intend to last into 2017 – and outlast the president.

McCain and his counterpart in the House, Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, said lawmakers won’t change the NDAA, and aren’t likely to become more cooperative for next year’s bill, particularly given this is likely the last Obama will sign before the next president is chosen in November 2016. Administration officials have suggested a provision lifting the restrictions on U.S. facilities could be attached to another piece of legislation — such as an omnibus spending bill expected before the next shutdown deadline on Dec. 11 — but there’s no appetite for that either.

The administration has refused to rule out executive action, even with lawmakers threatening to hold up the president’s nominations and legislative agenda, or, if it comes to it, take him to court.

Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, whose state is home to military barracks at Fort Leavenworth that have been considered for years, is blocking Obama’s nominations to thwart the possibility of a unilateral move, and has held his nominee for Army secretary, Eric Fanning, since September.

McCain said the administration’s true intention with the plan is to check a last box so they can argue Congress left them no choice but executive action. “Of course, that’s what this is all about,” he said. “I think he will again continue to abuse the Constitution of the United States … Of course it’s not in his authority. There’s a line in the defense authorization bill that prevents him from doing so.” But as for what recourse he and other lawmakers have, he said, “Go to court. Go to court. That’s all we can do: go to court.”

The Obama administration has long dangled administrative action as a threat, saying, as Earnest did Thursday, “We’re not going to take anything off the table when it comes to what the president can do to accomplish his goal, but our strong preference would be to engage Congress.”

White House and Pentagon officials decline to confirm whether legal counsel has determined the extent of Obama’s authority to close Guantanamo unilaterally.

“I think if this is an issue that ends up in court,” Earnest said, “it will be as a result of the abject failure of the U.S. Congress to put the national security interests of the United States first.”

Still, referring to McCain’s threats, he grimly quipped, “That gives you a pretty good sense of what we’re up against, right? Even our friends on this issue are threatening law suits.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.