The Trump administration may soon issue an executive order that would reiterate President Donald Trump’s intention to keep the military prison at Guantanamo Bay in operation, U.S. officials said on Thursday.
Administration officials have been developing a draft measure that, if finalized, would rescind another executive order that then-President Barack Obama signed in 2009, promising to shutter the prison, one official said. It might also include other elements of the Trump administration’s detention policy.
Forty-one prisoners remain at Guantanamo, some of them facing trial in a military court and others who have never been charged with a crime.
While the Obama administration resettled more than 100 prisoners overseas, the Trump White House has so far refused to approve detainee transfers, which many Republicans say endanger U.S. security.
The fate of the remaining prisoners, and of the controversial facility itself, has been the subject of discussion among Trump administration officials for months.
While Trump himself has suggested he would like to lock new detainees up at Guantanamo, many officials across the government have been wary of such a move.
(c) 2018, The Washington Post · Missy Ryan, Carol Morello
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