Guantanamo

Board Member Lee Wolosky to be Special Envoy for Guantanamo Closure For Immediate Release – June 30, 2015 The National Security Network welcomes the appointment of Lee Wolosky as Special Envoy for Guantanamo Closure. A decade ago, Lee was a founding member of the National Security Network, and he has served as a board member since that time. Lee’s extensive experience in government, law, and diplomacy will allow him to make progress toward the critical national security goal of closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, which has damaged relationships with U.S. allies and served as a propaganda tool for terrorists.In addition to his background in counterterrorism, transnational threats, and the rule of law, Lee brings to the position a demonstrated ability to work in a… Read More ›

Defense Bill Creates Needless New Obstacles for Guantanamo Transfers April 29, 2015 The House Armed Services Committee is reviewing the proposed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) today. The legislation, which covers a range of subjects, would authorize new restrictions on the transfer of detainees from Guantanamo Bay, including the 57 individuals who have been cleared for release by all relevant government agencies. The NDAA would also impose new reporting requirements on released detainees and recidivism rates based on concerns that have been inflated by misleading statistics. These new, unwarranted restrictions are a step away from President Obama’s stated goal of closing the detention facility, which remains a threat to U.S. national security. The Guantanamo provisions in the NDAA would hinder or prevent the transfer of… Read More ›

Partisan Republican Actions Damaging U.S. National Security March 11, 2015 The letter on the Iran negotiations by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), signed by 46 of his Senate Republican colleagues, is the latest and most blatant example of what is becoming an emerging pattern of Republican partisanship that expressly works to undermine U.S. foreign policy and national security. More than just an embarrassing political stunt, Sen. Cotton’s unprecedented letter will damage U.S. international credibility and weaken the United States’ ability to conclude a deal that would prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. This willingness to put short-term political goals ahead of U.S. interests has been on display with other Republican initiatives in recent weeks, particularly Speaker of the House John Boehner’s (R-OH) efforts to circumvent… Read More ›

Connecting the Dots: Linking Principles to Priorities in the New National Security Strategy The Obama Administration has just released its 2015 National Security Strategy. The updated strategy concentrates on broad lines of effort that are crucial to American interests, ranging across the categories of security, prosperity, values, and international order. However, to have full effect, leadership is needed to transform the document’s intent into concrete priorities. Indeed, the document reads, “our resources will never be limitless. Policy tradeoffs and hard choices will need to be made.” In moving towards implementation, therefore, national security leaders have the opportunity to reassess their near-term policy priorities to make sure they are addressing long-term trends. In particular, priorities should better reflect the need to effectively deal with the security… Read More ›

Top 5 Questions for Ashton Carter’s Confirmation Hearing Later this week, the Senate is scheduled to consider Ashton Carter’s nomination for Secretary of Defense. New leadership at the Pentagon provides an opportunity for policy changes that require careful thought and effective dialogue with Congress. The nomination hearing can begin this process by digging into some of the critical questions facing the Department of Defense and its role in foreign policy, including the future of Overseas Contingency Operations funding, fiscal discipline at the Pentagon, the way forward on the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, the fight against the Islamic State, and potential changes with U.S. involvement in the war in Ukraine. On these critical issues to the future of U.S. defense policy, key questions include: With the… Read More ›

Conservatives Use False Claims to Justify New Gitmo Bill This week, as the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay enters its 13th year of operation, Senate conservatives proposed new legislation that would prevent the transfer of any of the remaining detainees for the next two years, stymieing progress towards its closure. The bill’s sponsors – Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) – have said the bill is a response to concerns that repatriated detainees could turn to terrorism once released, but this fear is misplaced and based on inaccurate representations of the data on recidivism rates of former detainees. The much greater risk comes from allowing the detention facility to remain open. Politicians from both sides… Read More ›

Top Five Foreign Policy Challenges for 2015 Tomorrow, the new Congress is set to begin its first session amid a flurry of near- and mid-term foreign policy challenges that it will have the ability to affect for better or worse. Issues looming large include negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program as conservatives once again consider new counterproductive sanctions, the war against the Islamic State as American forces are being exposed to increased risk, the fate of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility as the transfer of prisoners picks up pace, managing America’s security interest in sustained nonproliferation cooperation with Russia even as Moscow misbehaves in Eastern Europe, and potentially divisive trade agreements under negotiation. On all of these issues, an effective relationship between Congress and… Read More ›

Senate Report Debunks CIA Defense of Torture Program Yesterday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) released the 528-page executive summary of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on the use of torture by the CIA under the Bush Administration. The damning report, based on millions of pages of CIA documents reviewed by the committee, demonstrates conclusively that the enhanced interrogation program was ineffective and ill-conceived from the start. It roundly debunks claims by the CIA that the program led to critical intelligence and notes that the CIA misrepresented the program to Congress. Instead, the use of torture has left Americans less safe.  Releasing the report “is really about American values and morals,” Sen. Feinstein said yesterday. “It’s about the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, our rule of law.… Read More ›

Last week, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel announced he would be stepping down from his position. While the timeline for his replacement is not entirely certain, what is certain is that a host of national security challenges await the next secretary of defense at a time of complicated relations between the Pentagon, the White House and Congress. Top among the challenges are better matching American military strategy to available resources, pursuing long-overdue cost-savings reforms, putting an end to the abuse of Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funds, handling – and gaining authorization for – the conflict against the Islamic State, and overseeing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility through additional transfer of detainees and, ideally, its closure. 1. Develop a military strategy that achieves U.S. national security… Read More ›

Improving the House NDAA: Top 5 Amendments May 21, 2014 This afternoon, the House will debate and vote on floor amendments to the FY 2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The NDAA has so far been riddled with problematic provisions in terms of both Pentagon budget andpolicy issues. But a number of the offered amendments can improve the House version of the bill. In terms of policy, Congress has the opportunity to approve measures that would clear the way for closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and allow the trial of detainees in the U.S. federal court system. There is also a measure that would sunset the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), something consistent with avoiding the risk of perpetual war and capitalizing on gains… Read More ›