Pentagon eyes more potential sites for Guantánamo detainees

A Pentagon team is planning to visit approximately a “handful” of additional locations in its search for a site on the mainland to house Guantánamo Bay detainees, risking the wrath of lawmakers wary of having terrorism suspects shipped to their backyards.

The Defense Department is keeping the new potential sites under wraps, cautioning that the list is not final. Revealing the locations could spark a backlash similar to the first round of visits to military prisons in Kansas and South Carolina.

The Pentagon on Wednesday said the new sites would be military and non-military, and that surveyors were also looking for a site where military commissions for the detainees could be held.

The trips will help inform the Pentagon’s plan — requested by Congress — for closing the prison facility, something that President Obama had promised to do during his first run for the White House in 2008.

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