The Case for Closing Guantanamo Bay

Posted: February 25th, 2016

By Matthew Olsen

Former Cipher Brief Expert Matthew Olsen is the Assistant Attorney General for National Security. He is also the former Chief Trust and Security Officer at Uber. Olsen spent over twenty years working for the U.S. government and served as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), as the General Counsel for the National Security Agency, and as former Special Counsel to the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

For seven years, President Barack’s efforts to close the terrorist detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba have been thwarted by Congress. But the President has not given up. This week, he released his blueprint for closing the facility.

Of the 91 remaining detainees, 35 have already been approved for transfer to other countries. The remaining detainees would be either sent to yet to be determined prison facilities in the U.S. or relocated to other nations if an accelerated review process determines they no longer pose a risk. The President has an uphill battle to get Congress to sign off on his proposal.

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