US President Joe Biden’s administration is revamping its efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay prison by appointing a senior diplomat to oversee detainee transfers, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.
The new special representative, Tina Kaidanow, a State Department official, has been chosen to review the case files of some prisoners who are expected to be release soon or transferred to jails in third countries.
Kaidanow, a former ambassador-at-large for counterterrorism, would not be able to report directly to the State Department.
After taking a low-profile approach to the matter for the first year of his term to avoid political controversy, Biden is moving closer to fulfilling a campaign promise to shut the facility, people familiar with the matter said.
The facility at the US Navy base in Cuba was set up in January 2002 to house alleged foreign terrorists captured overseas.
Over the years, the prison has cost $7 billion and held nearly 800 detainees and tens of thousands of troops on mostly yearlong or shorter tours of duty.
Only 36 detainees remain today at the facility, which costs $540 million a year to operate, after hundreds were returned home or resettled in third countries by the George Bush and Barack Obama administrations.
The newest detainee arrived in 2008; some of the men have been held for two decades.
Detainees include the alleged 9/11 mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and four co-defendants.
The high costs are attributable in part to the enormous rotating work force.
Military prosecutors have begun plea negotiations with Khalid and the co-defendants, a deal under which the defendants would admit guilt and prosecutors forgo pursuit of a death sentence, defense attorneys said.
