Inside the Pentagon Plan for Closing Guantanamo Detention Center

The Obama Administration's plan for closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay presented to Congress today anticipates that between 30 and 60 detainees could be transferred to a detention facility in the United States later this year. But moving those detainees from Cuba is not allowed under existing law and it is unclear how receptive Congress will be to changing the law in a presidential election year.

The plan laid out by the administration provides four main elements that are consistent with President Obama's goals of closing the facility at Guantanamo that houses 91 detainees.

They include continuing to transfer detainees cleared for release to other countries, periodic review boards to assess whether a detainee continues to pose a threat, possible prosecution, and working with Congress on a location in the continental United States that could house those detainees who cannot be released.

For the first time the administration has disclosed that it is planning for between 30 and 60 detainees to be housed at a detention facility in the United States.

The plan presented to Congress estimates that the costs of maintaining a facility in the United States would be between $65 and $85 million less a year, a significant savings from the annual cost of $445 million to house 91 detainees.

As part of its plan, the Pentagon considered the feasibility of using existing prison facilities to be operated by the military or constructing a new facility at a military base.

The plan looked at 13 possible locations last fall, seven of which were disclosed by the Pentagon prior to site surveys at seven military prison and civilian prison facilities in Kansas, South Carolina and Colorado.

The cost of building a new facility at a military base is estimated to be between $290 and $470 million, though those costs would be offset in three years.

There are 91 detainees still at Guantanamo, with 35 of them cleared for transfer to other countries. Senior administration officials told reporters today on a White House conference call that they anticipate that the 35 detainees will be transferred out in coming months.

Of the remaining 56, some will receive periodic review boards that could mean they, too, could be possibly transferred. Ten are being prosecuted by military commissions, and another 22 will be referred to prosecution.

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