Demanding Accountability

The Washington Post reported that the Obama administration believes that at least 12 detainees released from the Guantanamo facility have since attacked U.S. or allied forces in Afghanistan, killing about a half dozen Americans. The Secretary of State has the sole responsibility to negotiate transfers, including agreements to monitor released detainees. Despite this, the Department of Defense has apparently transferred detainees to countries that did not exhibit an ability to substantially mitigate the risk of recidivism or maintain custody or control of that individual. Under the law, Congress regularly receives information from the intelligence community on the return to terrorism rate of individuals released to foreign countries as well as assessments of a country's ability to prevent terrorists from returning to the fight. Numerous intelligence reports provided by the administration suggest that many countries aren't up to the job. A diplomatic agreement to do the job isn't worth the paper it is written on if a country does not have the resources, does not have the training to keep committed terrorists from returning to the battlefield. Yet the administration has sent Guantanamo terrorists to these countries anyway.