Introduces GTMO Amendment to NDAA

WASHINGTON — Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, introduced an amendment Tuesday requiring the Obama administration to provide an unclassified notice to Congress containing specific information on individuals currently detained at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base who are being transferred to a foreign country. Johnson said this regarding the amendment:

“The American people deserve to know when and where President Obama plans to transfer the remaining 80 detainees at Guantanamo Bay.  As of January 2016, 204 out of 676 transferred Guantanamo detainees, almost one third of those transferred, were confirmed or suspected of re-engaging in terrorist or insurgent activities. Information regarding these transfers should be public, not hidden by unnecessary classification. The detainees remaining in the Guantanamo Bay facility are the worst of the worst, and the threat they pose must be addressed seriously and transparently.”

Summary:

Requires the secretary of defense, in consultation with the secretary of state, to provide an unclassified notice to Congress containing:

• The name, country of origin, and country of destination of the individual proposed to be transferred;

• The number of individuals detained at the Guantanamo Bay facility previously transferred to that country; and

• The number of such individuals who are known or suspected to have re-engaged in terrorist activity after being transferred to that country.

Clarifies that a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the United States and a foreign country regarding the transfer of a Guantanamo detainee shall also be transmitted to Congress in an unclassified format, or if the secretary of defense determines that the MOU must be classified, the secretary must submit to Congress a detailed unclassified report explaining why the MOU is being kept classified.

The amendment also requires the secretary of defense to tell Congress why he chose a particular country for each transfer and which countries are next on the potential transfer list.

The amendment is consistent with existing requirements under the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

Full text of 4464 can be found here.