Four More Former Gitmo Terrorists Returned to Battlefield

    The semi-annual report on "Re-engagement of Detainees Formerly Held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba" was released on Wednesday by the Director of National Intelligence (DNI).  Out of a total of 614 former prisoners (up from 603 six months ago), intelligence has confirmed that 104 (up from 100) have re-engaged in terrorism/insurgent activities while another 74 are suspected of doing so. The latest report nudged the recidivism rate up to an even 29% from 28.9% last September.
    The report provides a chart breaking down the statistics into a number of categories:

    If there is good news to be found in the report, it is that 3 of the 4 detainees confirmed to have reengaged are now deceased.  Only one of the newly confirmed relapsed terrorist is still at large, joining the 56 other previously confirmed and 48 other suspected of reengaging presently not in custody.
    One of President Obama's first acts in office was to sign an executive order to close the facility at Guantanamo.  In his State of the Union address this January, the president briefly expressed his desire once again to see the facility closed, laying the responsibility on Congress to act.  Jay Carney was recently asked about a news report of a former detainee arrested in Britain suspected of terror activity in Syria, but Carney said he had not seen the report:

Q    A former Guantanamo detainee has been arrested in Britain on suspicion of terror offenses in Syria.  When you see these incidences pop up does it give the White House any pause on a policy for closing Guantanamo? 

MR. CARNEY:  I haven't seen that specific report.  What I can tell you is that there is a thorough review process on every individual, every detainee who’s being considered for transfer that takes all of these issues into account.

    As was the case six months ago, the new semi-annual report simply appeared on the DNI's website on Wednesday.   The release was not noted on the DNI's Twitter account, the agency's Facebook page, nor IC on the Record, the DNI's Tumblr account.


Note: A version of this post first appeared at The Weekly Standard.