Intel report: 121 former Gitmo detainees returned to terrorism

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence released updated figures on former Guantanamo Bay detainees suspected or confirmed of re-engaging with terrorism Tuesday, showing a small shift in the figures since September. 

According to the updated data released Tuesday, the intelligence community has confirmed that a total of 121 former detainees have re-engaged in terrorism. 

That number is a one-person drop since the previous report, released in September, which listed 122 detainees as confirmed terrorists. 

The new report also found that two more detainees released by former President Barack Obama are suspected of reengaging in terrorism, bringing the total of suspected terrorists to 87.

{mosads}Overall, the percentage of former detainees released by both Obama and former President George W. Bush confirmed or suspected of returning to terrorism dropped a percentage point, to 29 percent.

The report, which is released every March and September, comes after President Trump earlier in the day incorrectly blamed Obama for releasing all the former detainees who have reengaged in terrorism.

“122 vicious prisoners, released by the Obama Administration from Gitmo, have returned to the battlefield. Just another terrible decision!” Trump tweeted Tuesday morning.

Trump appeared to be responding to a “Fox and Friends” report, which was looking at the numbers in the September report. That report found that 113 former detainees released by Bush were confirmed to have returned to terrorism, while nine of those released by Obama did the same. 

White House press secretary Sean Spicer later said that Trump was taking about those released “in totality.”

The new report shows the one-person decrease in confirmed re-engagements comes from a detainee released during the Obama administration. The number of Obama’s releases confirmed to have reentered terrorism now stands at eight. 

It’s unclear why the number was lowered. 

That means 4.4 percent of the 182 detainees released by Obama are confirmed of reengaging in terrorism, down from 5.6 percent in the September report.

But the two-person increase in suspected returns to terrorism by Obama releases raises that percentage from 6.8 percent to 7.1 percent. 

The number of detainees released under Bush suspected of reengaging in terrorism decreased from 75 to 74.

One detainee released by Bush who was confirmed to have returned to terrorism is now dead, bringing the total number of deceased confirmed terrorists to 31. 

There are a total of 87 former detainees suspected of returning to terrorism. Tuesday’s report counts the 714 detainees released as of Jan. 15 — 532 under Bush and 182 under Obama. Obama transferred 14 more after Jan. 15, as well.