GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba _ With President-elect Donald Trump taking office in less than six weeks, the last 59 detainees at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo are wondering if they'll be moved out before Barack Obama leaves office.
That goes for the detention center chief, too. "I do not have orders yet," Navy Rear Adm. Peter Clarke said Sunday. "So I don't know when I will transfer."
He's not the only one. Of the remaining 59 captives, 21 are approved for release or repatriation to other nations under security assurances that satisfy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter. But the admiral refused to say Sunday whether he's received orders to transfer any of the 21 cleared captives, who got word he was no longer a "forever prisoner" last week.
The Pentagon announced last month that it was sending Navy Rear Adm. Edward Cashman to relieve Clarke, who a year ago became the ninth commander assigned to run prison operations since Obama ordered his administration to close it.
Clarke would not say whether he received orders to transfer any of the 21 cleared captives. "We do not discuss our operations in advance. So I can't talk about whether there are any pending transfers or not," he said.
"Many of them believe that they will be transferred before the end of the administration. Certainly there are 21 who are approved for transfer, cleared, no longer requiring law of war detention. And all 21 of them are hopeful they would be transferred.
"If they're not, then I believe that some of them may act out when they realize that they're not going to be transferred. If we get to that."
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