News

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, today co-sponsored the Detainee Transfer Transparency Act, a bill introduced by Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK). This legislation would require the Secretary of Defense to make available to the public the intended transfer or release of detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, at least 21 days in advance.

“The American public should have as much information as possible about the terrorist detainees the Obama Administration is seeking to release around the world,” said Rubio. “We know from Obama Administration officials that released detainees have gone on to kill Americans and routinely reengage in terrorist activities. By mindlessly adhering to his campaign promise to close the detention center at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, President Obama is endangering America’s national security and burdening the U.S. intelligence community with the difficult challenge of tracking released detainees that shouldn’t be free in the first place.”

The Detainee Transfer Transparency Act would require the public notice from the Secretary of Defense to include: the name of the individual, the location to which the individual will be transferred or released, and the current and past risk profile of the individual. If the detainee is being transferred to another location, then the notice must also include a summary of the agreement made with that location and list actions being taken to mitigate risk of another transfer or the release of the detainee.

The legislation would also prohibit closure of Guantanamo Bay and prohibit the transfer of detainees to the United States.

A PDF of the legislation is available here.