Charleston or Fort Leavenworth could hold Guantanamo detainees

One Capitol Hill source, reading from the notification, asserted the 1st Defense Department survey team was due to visit Fort Leavenworth “starting today [Friday]”. Legally, the administration is still barred from transferring Guantanamo detainees to the United States, reportedly laws passed by Congress starting in 2010.

The team inspected Fort Leavenworth in Kansas on Friday and is planning to tour the naval brig in Charleston, South Carolina, next week, said Pentagon spokesperson Cmdr.

The surveyors will analyze security and consider if the base can provide “humane treatment”. Transportation and other operating issues also are factors.

The Department of Defense (DoD) uses the example of the population of Guantanamo aging, citing additional required medical expenses and annual cost to keep each detainee. Military personnel started surveying in Leavenworth on Thursday, while surveyors will start in Charleston “in the next week or so”, the spokesman told VOA.

Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Pat Roberts of Kansas are up in arms about reports that the Pentagon is scouting sites in their home states to house terrorist prisoners now detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

President Barack Obama has called for the closure of the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay since the beginning of his presidency.

“I shut down this administration’s nominee for secretary of the Army in 2009 to prevent moving any detainees to Kansas and will do it again if necessary”, he said. Governor Brownback, along with his Congressional colleagues, successfully blocked the transfer of GITMO detainees in 2009.

Both the House and Senate versions of the 2016 defense policy bill maintain prohibitions on transferring detainees to U.S. facilities. “This administration’s last-ditch effort to carry out President Obama’s reckless national security decision before he leaves office is disingenuous and flawed”.