Cliff Sloan, Guantánamo Envoy, Quits Amid Delays in Prisoner Releases
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Version 0 of 1. WASHINGTON — The State Department envoy who negotiates detainee transfers from the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, is resigning, dealing another blow to President Obama’s efforts to close a facility that top administration officials say is a blight on the country’s international standing. The resignation of Cliff Sloan, a close confidant of Secretary of State John Kerry, comes as officials at the State Department and the White House have increasingly expressed frustration with the Defense Department’s slow pace of transferring approved prisoners. In an interview on Monday, Mr. Sloan denied that he was leaving because he was frustrated by foot-dragging at the Pentagon. He said he had always intended to stay a maximum of 18 months, noting that he was right on schedule. “At this point, we’re in a position to see a lot of progress,” he said. “I’m strongly in favor of moving forward as promptly as we can on the president’s commitment to close the facility.” 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 Guantánamo 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. Those delays have contributed to tensions between the Defense Department and the White House, and particularly with the national security adviser, Susan E. Rice. But Mr. Hagel maintained that he would not be rushed into releasing prisoners. In May, Ms. Rice sent Mr. Hagel a memo pressuring him to pick up the pace, but Mr. Hagel told reporters during a flight to Alaska at the time that he was in no hurry to approve deals. “My name is going on that document; that’s a big responsibility,” Mr. Hagel said then. He added: “I’m taking my time. I owe that to the American people, to ensure that any decision I make is, in my mind, responsible.” President Obama has nominated a longtime Pentagon official, Ashton B. Carter, a nuclear physicist, to replace Mr. Hagel as defense secretary. A senior administration official said on Monday that the White House had not yet decided on a replacement for Mr. Sloan, adding that Paul E. Lewis, the Defense Department’s envoy for the closing of Guantánamo, would “continue to focus solely on the Guantánamo closure within the Pentagon, something it’s clear he is struggling to do.” “The Department of State will continue to be responsible for all diplomatic engagement to close the facility,” said the official. The Pentagon announced on Saturday that it had transferred four detainees from the Guantánamo Bay prison to Afghanistan late Friday, fulfilling a request from President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan in what officials characterized as a show of good will by the United States toward his new government. The four men will not likely be subject to further detainment in Afghanistan, said another Obama administration official, who like the other officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Of the 132 prisoners still held at Guantánamo, eight are Afghans. Although Mr. Obama vowed in 2013 to revive his efforts to close Guantánamo, in the first months of the year the military had transferred only one low-level detainee, in March. But since November, 17 detainees have been transferred. There have now been 34 transfers under Mr. Hagel; by comparison, only four were transferred by Leon E. Panetta, Mr. Hagel’s predecessor as defense secretary. The administration is hoping to shrink the inmate population to below 100, so Congress can revoke a law that bars the transfer of detainees into the United States. |