Pentagon Will Send Congress Plan for Closing Guantanamo

The Pentagon will reportedly send Congress a plan for how to close the wartime prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on Tuesday.

Closing the prison has been a goal for the Obama administration throughout his presidency, but has been deterred by a statute banning the transfer of Guantanamo prisoners to the U.S., the New York Times reports. A provision in the National Defense Authorization Act passed in November put a 90-day deadline on a plan for Guantanamo’s closure to be presented to Congress.

In the past, the administration has made plans to send low-level detainees to prisons in foreign countries that can handle the security risk, while higher-level detainees would be transferred to a domestic military or maximum-security prison. Guantanamo currently houses 91 detainees, 35 of whom have been recommended for transfer.

[NYT]