Transfers Alone Won’t Close Guantanamo Bay – By Jacqueline Feldscher (Defense One) / July 20 2021
Legal experts say the Biden administration must fix the sluggish trial process to actually close the military prison
President Joe Biden can transfer all eligible detainees out of Guantanamo Bay, but he won’t be able to close the military detention center without reforming the military commissions process, legal experts say.
The Pentagon announced on Monday that it had transferred Abdul Latif Nasir from the naval station and prison complex on Cuba to Morocco, five years after a review board ruled in 2016 that he was no longer a threat to the United States. The move is the first transfer of the Biden administration, and the first since May 2018.
Thirty-nine detainees remain at Guantanamo Bay. Ten are eligible for transfer, while 17 more are eligible for a periodic evaluation about whether they can be transferred, a senior administration official told reporters.
A second senior administration official declined to say whether the U.S. intends to speed up the transfer of detainees to other nations — or even whether talks are proceeding at all.
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