Pentagon prepares to release more Gitmo detainees

The Pentagon is preparing to release additional detainees from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in the coming weeks. 

Defense officials told the Wall Street Journal that there would be more transfers in December, but did not say how many or where they are headed.

{mosads}Five detainees were transferred from Guantánamo Bay last week. Altogether, outgoing Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has approved the transfers of seven detainees within the last month. 

Defense officials told the Journal that Hagel would continue to review and approve proposals to transfer detainees out of the prison. “He will continue apace,” said an official. “It will be business as usual.”

President Obama has promised to close the controversial detention camp, but many Republicans have opposed those plans. 

Administration officials have criticized Hagel for not moving fast enough to release more detainees. Under law, the Defense secretary approves the transfer of each detainee and guarantees that they will not return to the battlefield. 

Obama announced Hagel’s resignation on Monday, and is expected to appoint a Defense secretary to oversee more transfers, with two years left in his tenure.  

There are 143 detainees now at Guantanamo. 

A 2015 defense policy bill now in the final stages could impose restrictions on transfers. That is expected to pass the second week of December, but it is not clear how many transfers could take place before the bill is signed into law.