From the article: On the Politics of Guantanamo In the past, both houses of Congress have, to varying degrees, sought to tie President Obama’s hands with respect to detention policy: making it more difficult to transfer people to the United States for trial and making it hard—nearly impossible—to transfer detainees overseas. This time around, by contrast, one house of Congress (the House of Representatives) is continuing to play those games. But the other (the Senate) is contemplating a significant loosening of the binds. If something like the Senate bill could emerge, it would mark very substantial progress. The Senate bill (S. 1197), were it to become law, would alter the landscape a lot. Under its terms, the Pentagon could transfer a detainee if the Periodic Review Boards set up in Executive Order 13567 found “that the individual is no longer a threat to the national security of the United States.” It could also transfer a detainee who has been acquitted of criminal charges or completed a sentence (Sec. 1031(a)). The administration could transfer a detainee certifying only that “actions that have been or are planned to be taken will substantially mitigate the risk of such individual engaging or reengaging in any terrorist or other hostile activity that threatens the United States” and that the transfer “is in the national security interests of the United States” (Sec. 1031(b)). The factors that constitute onerous restrictions in the House bill are, in the Senate version, mere factors to “take into consideration” (Sec. 1031(c)). The Senate bill requires notification and explanation of transfer decisions to Congress at least 30 days before the transfer happens (Sec. 1031(d))—which creates a record of accountability if and when things go bad. The Senate bill also relaxes the transfer restrictions to the United States—in two ways. First, it permits DoD to “temporarily transfer any individual detained at Guantanamo” to a DoD facility in the United States “for the sole purpose of providing medical treatment” if that treatment is “necessary to prevent death or imminent significant injury or harm” and the treatment is not available at reasonable cost at Guantanamo (Sec. 1032). In other words, were the Senate bill to become law, it would become possible—if the Executive Branch had the political will—both to resume transferring detainees abroad who do not need to remain at Guantanamo and to bring to the United States the small number of detainees who make sense to try in federal courts.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Jul 2013 03:38:07 +0000
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