Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, today responded to revelations disclosed by the Wall Street Journal about the cost of closing the detention center at Guantanamo Bay (GTMO). According to the Journal, President Obama rejected a recent proposal by the Department of Defense to close GTMO because the cost – over half a billion dollars in the first year, and hundreds of millions of dollars annually in the future- was too high. Last year, the US Southern Command Commander testified that the operating cost of the detention facility at GTMO is $140 million per year.
The National Defense Authorization Act signed by the President last month requires the President to submit a plan for detainee policy, including accurate cost estimates, by the end of February 2016.
“The President and his supporters have argued for years that closing GTMO will make us safer and it will save us money. No one really believes that bringing terrorists to our shores would make Americans any safer. Now we know that the President’s claims of saving us money aren’t true either. The President was right to reject the plan on the basis of cost, but he was absolutely wrong to direct the Pentagon to cut corners and bring him a cheaper option. If the President is determined to bring these terrorists to the United States, he can’t do it with cut-rate security. He owes the troops who would guard these detainees, not to mention the Americans who suddenly find al Qaeda terrorists held in their backyards, far more.“
