About Time

Obama Orders Guantánamo Closure

Executive order today.

An early sign from President Obama that he'll make good on his promise to end the age of Bush: ABC News is reporting that Obama has issued three new executive orders today, including one directing the CIA to close its remaining black site prisons and Guantánamo Bay within a year. The orders will require an immediate review of all 245 detainees still held at Guantánamo to determine whether they should be released, transferred, or prosecuted. The orders will also prohibit the use of coercive interrogation methods, requiring the CIA to abide by the same rules as the military. The Times adds that the orders "could also allow Mr. Obama to reinstate the CIA's detention and interrogation operations in the future, by presidential order, as some have argued would be appropriate if Osama bin Laden or another top-level leader of Al Qaeda were captured."