Obama's Gitmo envoy is resigning
President Obama is looking for a new envoy to talk to other countries about taking prisoners from the U.S-run prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Cliff Sloan, a key figure in the Obama administration's efforts to close Gitmo, says he is resigning the envoy post after a tenure that included battles between State Department and the Pentagon over prisoner releases.
After a series of recent releases, Gitmo now holds about 132 detainees.
Sloan says he always planned to stay on the job 18 months, and that time is arriving.
"At this point, we're in a position to see a lot of progress," Sloan told The New York Times. "I'm strongly in favor of moving forward as promptly as we can on the president's commitment to close the facility."
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"During Mr. Sloan's tenure, many White House officials have complained of delays at the Defense Department, including with Chuck Hagel, who resigned as defense secretary last month under pressure. Many Pentagon officials and American military commanders have expressed concern about releasing Guantanamo prisoners who, they say, may return to the battlefield to fight American troops.
"Officials close to Mr. Sloan said that he had become heartened in recent weeks that a few prisoners — what one official characterized as the 'low-hanging fruit' -- had been released. But another official said that Mr. Sloan was unhappy that a number of prisoners who had been cleared for release by the president's national security team had been held up by Mr. Hagel."
In a recent interview with CNN, Obama said that Gitmo "continues to inspire jihadists and extremists around the world," and he will try to step up efforts to close it.
"There are a little less than 150 individuals left in this facility," Obama said. "We are going to continue to place those who have been cleared for release or transfer to host countries that are willing to take them."
He added, however: "There's going to be a certain irreducible number that are going to be really hard cases, because, you know, we know they've done something wrong and they are still dangerous, but it's difficult to mount the evidence in a traditional Article 3 court. You know, so we're going to have to wrestle with that."