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Charleston,
SC
– U.S.
Senators
Tim
Scott
(R-SC)
and
Pat
Roberts
(R-KS)
published
an
op-ed
in
the
Wall
Street
Journal
denouncing
the
Obama
Administration’s
plans
to
move
Gitmo
Prisoners
to
U.S.
soil.
Full
text
below:
Obama’s
Plans
to
Import
Guantanamo
Prisoners
by
Tim
Scott
and
Pat
Roberts
White
House
press
secretary
Josh
Earnest
said
recently
that
the
Obama
administration
is
in
the
“final
stages
of
drafting
a
plan
to
safely
and
responsibly”
close
the
detention
facilities
at
Guantanamo
Bay.
Our
home
states
of
Kansas
and
South
Carolina
are
being
considered
as
potential
sites
for
housing
the
enemy
combatants
transferred
from
Guantanamo.
Defense
Department
officials
visited
Fort
Leavenworth,
Kan.,
on
Aug.
14
and
will
be
visiting
the
Naval
Brig
in
Charleston,
S.C.,
on
Monday
to
survey
the
facilities.
When
Barack
Obama
won
the
White
House
in
2008,
he
announced
that
Guantanamo
would
be
closed
in
the
first
year
of
his
presidency.
This
was
a
political
promise
with
little
regard
for
recidivism
rates,
the
continuing
conflicts
in
Iraq
or
Afghanistan,
and
most
important,
America’s
national
security.
So
it
is
fortunate
that
the
deadline
was
not
met.
But
throughout
his
presidency,
Mr.
Obama
has
prioritized
personal
legacy
over
the
safety
and
security
of
the
nation—and
he
is
still
pursuing
an
effort
to
move
the
terrorists
at
Guantanamo
into
our
backyards.
The
notion
that
Kansas,
South
Carolina
or
any
other
state
would
be
an
ideal
home
for
terrorist
detainees
is
preposterous.
Transferring
these
prisoners
to
the
mainland
puts
the
well-being
of
states
in
danger,
posing
security
risks
to
the
public
and
wasting
taxpayer
dollars.
The
detention
facilities
at
Guantanamo
are
doing
a
fantastic
job
of
holding
these
terrorists.
Closing
Guantanamo
Bay
isn’t
taking
the
fight
to
the
enemy;
it’s
bringing
it
home.
Of
serious
concern
is
that
there
is
no
way
to
control
who
the
terrorists
would
attract
to
our
communities.
We
should
be
doing
everything
possible
to
destroy
homegrown
terrorism,
not
encouraging
it.
Fort
Leavenworth
is
on
the
Missouri
River,
adjacent
to
a
public
railroad,
about
16
miles
from
Kansas
City
International
Airport,
in
the
middle
of
communities
Leavenworth
and
Lansing,
surrounded
by
schools
and
homes.
Fort
Leavenworth
trains
the
best
and
brightest
through
the
Army
University,
at
the
Command
and
General
Staff
College.
Everyone
in
the
vicinity
would
live
with
a
target
on
their
back
if
some
of
the
most
dangerous
terrorists
in
the
world
were
housed
among
them.
Millions
of
taxpayer
dollars
would
need
to
be
spent
to
retrofit
the
barracks—and
acquire
perhaps
2,000
acres
of
land
around
them
by
eminent
domain
for
a
security
perimeter—to
house
these
prisoners.
Charleston’s
Naval
Consolidated
Brig
was
built
in
the
late
1980s
as
a
medium-security
military
prison
for
prisoners
serving
sentences
of
10
years
or
less.
It
is
surrounded
by
residential
neighborhoods,
less
than
a
mile
from
a
school,
close
to
the
Port
of
Charleston,
roughly
five
miles
from
the
Charleston
International
Airport,
and
surrounded
by
military
facilities.
It
is
also
a
short
distance
from
the
Space
and
Naval
Warfare
Systems
Command,
or
SPAWAR,
Systems
Center
Atlantic,
and
the
Navy
Nuclear
Power
Training
Command.
Both
of
these
strategic
military
installations
are
vital
to
national
defense
and
military
readiness
and
would
further
raise
the
profile
of
the
area
as
a
target
for
terrorism.
Housing
some
of
the
world’s
most
dangerous
prisoners
next
to
Charleston,
a
city
repeatedly
named
the
No.
1
tourist
destination
in
the
U.S.
by
readers
of
Conde
Nast
Traveler,
would
be
grossly
irresponsible.
Congress
has
consistently
stopped
the
president
from
closing
Guantanamo
by
prohibiting
funds
from
being
used
to
transfer
or
release
detainees
into
the
U.S.
Changing
this
policy
would
be
beyond
foolish.
As
the
threat
of
Islamic
State
grows,
now
is
not
the
time
to
consider
transferring
detainees
to
U.S.
soil
and
putting
America’s
security
at
even
greater
risk.
We
will
not
let
the
president
ignore
the
realities
of
terrorism.
We
will
do
everything
in
our
power,
use
every
tool
in
the
Senate,
to
ensure
that
our
communities—the
churches,
schools,
playgrounds
and
military
installations—are
kept
safe
while
terrorists
remain
where
they
belong:
locked
up
at
Guantanamo
Bay.
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