President Biden quietly begins efforts to start closing Guantánamo ahead of 20th anniversary of 9/11.
A detainee stands at an interior fence inside the U.S. military prison for "enemy combatants" at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, in October 2009.When Biden took office, six of the 40 detainees still at the U.S. enclave on the southeast coast of Cuba were already eligible for transfer to foreign countries. Last month, three more detainees were designated as eligible for transfer — two Yemenis and a Pakistani.
That leaves a core group of at least a dozen detainees who cannot be transferred, including 9/11 defendants. Ten detainees are in the military commissions, militaryoften used to try foreign citizens affiliated with terrorist networks who fought against the U.S. Two other detainees have already been convicted by military commissions.
Biden will ultimately appoint a State Department envoy, sign a new executive order directing that the facility be closed and try to work with Congress to lift a ban on relocating the remaining prisoners to U.S. prisons or military bases, people familiar with the discussions said. The administration is leaning against including the option of transferring detainees to U.S. military installations, another shift from the Obama administration's approach.
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