The White House has rejected the Pentagon's plan to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and build a replacement in the U.S., saying that the cost estimate is too high, and has asked for revisions.
Officials familiar with the plan say that the Pentagon estimated it would require as much as $600 million, including a one-time investment of as much as $350 million, in construction costs to close the prison and build another one in the U.S., according to Reuters.
Maintaining the prison for a single year is almost as expensive. A defense official revealed that the annual cost of operating the facility is around $400-450 million and estimates, after one-time costs, that the Pentagon's proposed U.S.-based facility would cost less than $300 million annually.
The cost dispute marks a setback for President Barack Obama, who has made it a priority to close the facility since taking office in 2009, and helps to account for his administration's delay in submitting a plan for the prison's closure to Congress, The Wall Street Journal reported.
A U.S. official noted that Defense Secretary Ash Carter, who has struggled to create a solid plan for Guantanamo's closure in the face of strong opposition from Capitol Hill and ambivalence within the administration, has faced even more difficultly with the plans following the Nov. 13 Paris attacks.
"Before the attacks, I would have said December, (but) now I don't know," the official said.
The Pentagon sent an assessment team to review a number of pre-existing U.S. sites to determine whether they would be suitable to house transferees from Guantanamo, reported Newsmax. Those facilities included the Naval Consolidated Brig in Charleston, S.C., Fort Leavenworth in Kansas and the ADX Florence, a.k.a Supermax, in Colorado. A Colorado state prison 10 miles away from the Supermax was also considered.
It's not clear which sites the Pentagon will decide to house the detainees, as the visits to those facilities formed the basis of the cost estimates that Obama had rejected.
