WASHINGTON — A Kuwaiti man held by the United States without trial for nearly 13 years in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, was released early Wednesday, the military said. His repatriation was the first transfer to result from a new system of parole-board-like hearings to periodically review whether it is still necessary to keep holding prisoners.
The Kuwaiti, Fawzi al Odah, was also only the second low-level prisoner to be released from Guantánamo this year. Last year, President Obama pledged to revive his efforts to close the prison. Administration officials said an end-of-the-year flurry might be coming: The Pentagon has notified Congress that nine other detainees, including six bound for Uruguay, may soon be transferred.
Still, there are signs that disagreements remain within the administration over how much risk to accept as it tries to winnow down the population of low-level inmates and close the prison. The administration had been poised to repatriate four Afghans who have long been approved for transfer, but Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel recently pulled back from that plan, according to officials.
The officials, who discussed deliberations on the condition of anonymity, said the administration decided at a “principals’ committee” meeting on Oct. 3 in the White House Situation Room to proceed with notifying Congress that it intended to repatriate the four Afghans. Mr. Obama’s national security adviser, Susan E. Rice, chaired the meeting.
The notice was supposed to be given within a week after the State Department obtained an unspecified security assurance from the Afghan government. That was completed three weeks ago, the officials said, but Mr. Hagel has not sent the notice.
Although the Pentagon signed off on the Afghans’ repatriation as part of a 2009 interagency task force, officials familiar with the deliberations said Mr. Hagel had decided to reassess the timing after Gen. John F. Campbell, the top military leader in Afghanistan, sent a memo expressing concerns that they might attack American or Afghan troops.
The officials also said Mr. Hagel was still considering the proposed Afghan transfers. His spokesman, Rear Admiral John Kirby, declined to specifically comment about the Afghans. But he described the department’s deliberations about whether the security risk has been mitigated as including “inputs from commanders in the field, whose perspectives are not only greatly valued by the secretary but heavily relied upon.”
It is unusual for a cabinet secretary to independently reconsider a decision reached at a principals’ committee meeting. But Guantánamo transfers are an unusual type of policy decision because of a law requiring that the secretary of defense notify lawmakers at least 30 days before any transfer that he has personally determined that it would be in the national interest.
In an agreement with the Kuwaiti government, Mr. Odah, whose name is sometimes spelled Fouzi al Awda, will live in custody there as part of a yearlong rehabilitation program, officials said.
He was the first detainee of any type to be transferred since May, when the Obama administration sent five high-level Taliban prisoners — who were not recommended for release — to Qatar in a prisoner swap for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the only American prisoner of war from the Afghan war. Angering lawmakers, Mr. Hagel did not provide 30 days’ notice to Congress for that swap; the administration said any delay could have endangered Sergeant Bergdahl’s life.
Mr. Hagel’s apparent decision to pull back from swiftly repatriating the Afghans came amid turbulence prompted by an inaccurate Fox News report about former Guantánamo detainees fighting in Syria.
Specifically, Fox News reported last Thursday that “as many as 20 to 30 former Guantánamo Bay detainees released within the last two to three years are suspected by intelligence and Defense officials of having joined forces with the Islamic State and other militant groups inside Syria.”
In fact, since January 2011, a total of 22 detainees had left the prison, of whom no more than two — perhaps none — are suspected or confirmed of “re-engagement” worldwide, according to semiannual reports issued by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. An official said there had been no Syria-related change to its numbers since the most recent report.
Fox News later altered its report, without noting that it was changed, so that it instead reads “some of whom were released within the last three years.” But its original version had already set off anger in Congress.
Representative Howard P. McKeon, the California Republican who is chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, and Senator Kelly Ayotte, Republican of New Hampshire, released letters to the administration last Thursday calling for a moratorium on transfers, citing “public reports” and “a public report today” about former Guantánamo detainees joining the Islamic State.
“The U.S. government must not release terrorist detainees at the same time we have committed U.S. service members to fight ISIL,” Mr. McKeon wrote, using an alternate acronym for the Islamic State. “To continue to do so just as we have had to open a new front in the war on terror is unthinkable.”
The Islamic State has used Guantánamo for propaganda purposes, forcing captured journalists to wear orange prison garb, similar to that of detainees, as it beheaded them. Patrick Ventrell, a National Security Council spokesman, said keeping the prison open was itself a risk.
“Guantánamo poses profound risks to our national security and should be closed,” Mr. Ventrell said. “The American people should not be spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year on a facility that harms our standing in the world, damages our relationships with key allies and emboldens violent extremists.”
Since 2009, the executive branch has used a more stringent process of individualized review before releasing detainees. About 19 percent of former detainees released during the Bush administration have been deemed confirmed recidivists, compared with 6.8 percent of those released under the Obama administration.
Mr. Odah, the Kuwaiti released on Wednesday, was a plaintiff in a case that helped establish that courts have jurisdiction to hear habeas corpus lawsuits filed by Guantánamo detainees. But in 2009, a judge upheld Mr. Odah’s wartime detention.
In July, the Periodic Review Board, which began operating last fall, determined that his detention was no longer necessary, citing his “low level of training and lack of a leadership position in Al Qaeda” as well as his family support and Kuwaiti security measures.
“The board found the detainee’s statements to be credible regarding his commitment not to support extremist groups or other groups that promote violence, and noted the positive changes in the detainee’s behavior while in detention,” it said.
His departure leaves 148 prisoners, of whom 79 are recommended for transfer
The Kuwaiti, Fawzi al Odah, was also only the second low-level prisoner to be released from Guantánamo this year. Last year, President Obama pledged to revive his efforts to close the prison. Administration officials said an end-of-the-year flurry might be coming: The Pentagon has notified Congress that nine other detainees, including six bound for Uruguay, may soon be transferred.
Still, there are signs that disagreements remain within the administration over how much risk to accept as it tries to winnow down the population of low-level inmates and close the prison. The administration had been poised to repatriate four Afghans who have long been approved for transfer, but Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel recently pulled back from that plan, according to officials.
The officials, who discussed deliberations on the condition of anonymity, said the administration decided at a “principals’ committee” meeting on Oct. 3 in the White House Situation Room to proceed with notifying Congress that it intended to repatriate the four Afghans. Mr. Obama’s national security adviser, Susan E. Rice, chaired the meeting.
The notice was supposed to be given within a week after the State Department obtained an unspecified security assurance from the Afghan government. That was completed three weeks ago, the officials said, but Mr. Hagel has not sent the notice.
Although the Pentagon signed off on the Afghans’ repatriation as part of a 2009 interagency task force, officials familiar with the deliberations said Mr. Hagel had decided to reassess the timing after Gen. John F. Campbell, the top military leader in Afghanistan, sent a memo expressing concerns that they might attack American or Afghan troops.
The officials also said Mr. Hagel was still considering the proposed Afghan transfers. His spokesman, Rear Admiral John Kirby, declined to specifically comment about the Afghans. But he described the department’s deliberations about whether the security risk has been mitigated as including “inputs from commanders in the field, whose perspectives are not only greatly valued by the secretary but heavily relied upon.”
It is unusual for a cabinet secretary to independently reconsider a decision reached at a principals’ committee meeting. But Guantánamo transfers are an unusual type of policy decision because of a law requiring that the secretary of defense notify lawmakers at least 30 days before any transfer that he has personally determined that it would be in the national interest.
In an agreement with the Kuwaiti government, Mr. Odah, whose name is sometimes spelled Fouzi al Awda, will live in custody there as part of a yearlong rehabilitation program, officials said.
He was the first detainee of any type to be transferred since May, when the Obama administration sent five high-level Taliban prisoners — who were not recommended for release — to Qatar in a prisoner swap for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the only American prisoner of war from the Afghan war. Angering lawmakers, Mr. Hagel did not provide 30 days’ notice to Congress for that swap; the administration said any delay could have endangered Sergeant Bergdahl’s life.
Mr. Hagel’s apparent decision to pull back from swiftly repatriating the Afghans came amid turbulence prompted by an inaccurate Fox News report about former Guantánamo detainees fighting in Syria.
Specifically, Fox News reported last Thursday that “as many as 20 to 30 former Guantánamo Bay detainees released within the last two to three years are suspected by intelligence and Defense officials of having joined forces with the Islamic State and other militant groups inside Syria.”
In fact, since January 2011, a total of 22 detainees had left the prison, of whom no more than two — perhaps none — are suspected or confirmed of “re-engagement” worldwide, according to semiannual reports issued by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. An official said there had been no Syria-related change to its numbers since the most recent report.
Fox News later altered its report, without noting that it was changed, so that it instead reads “some of whom were released within the last three years.” But its original version had already set off anger in Congress.
Representative Howard P. McKeon, the California Republican who is chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, and Senator Kelly Ayotte, Republican of New Hampshire, released letters to the administration last Thursday calling for a moratorium on transfers, citing “public reports” and “a public report today” about former Guantánamo detainees joining the Islamic State.
“The U.S. government must not release terrorist detainees at the same time we have committed U.S. service members to fight ISIL,” Mr. McKeon wrote, using an alternate acronym for the Islamic State. “To continue to do so just as we have had to open a new front in the war on terror is unthinkable.”
The Islamic State has used Guantánamo for propaganda purposes, forcing captured journalists to wear orange prison garb, similar to that of detainees, as it beheaded them. Patrick Ventrell, a National Security Council spokesman, said keeping the prison open was itself a risk.
“Guantánamo poses profound risks to our national security and should be closed,” Mr. Ventrell said. “The American people should not be spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year on a facility that harms our standing in the world, damages our relationships with key allies and emboldens violent extremists.”
Since 2009, the executive branch has used a more stringent process of individualized review before releasing detainees. About 19 percent of former detainees released during the Bush administration have been deemed confirmed recidivists, compared with 6.8 percent of those released under the Obama administration.
Mr. Odah, the Kuwaiti released on Wednesday, was a plaintiff in a case that helped establish that courts have jurisdiction to hear habeas corpus lawsuits filed by Guantánamo detainees. But in 2009, a judge upheld Mr. Odah’s wartime detention.
In July, the Periodic Review Board, which began operating last fall, determined that his detention was no longer necessary, citing his “low level of training and lack of a leadership position in Al Qaeda” as well as his family support and Kuwaiti security measures.
“The board found the detainee’s statements to be credible regarding his commitment not to support extremist groups or other groups that promote violence, and noted the positive changes in the detainee’s behavior while in detention,” it said.
His departure leaves 148 prisoners, of whom 79 are recommended for transfer
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