President Obama plans to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, before he leaves office.  Towards that effort, they are about to execute the largest prisoner transfer in a single month in eight years.

Townhall, via NYT:

Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter has notified Congress in recent days that he has approved 17 proposed transfers of lower-level detainees, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss matters that have not yet been made public. Congress has required Mr. Carter to certify that security standards have been met at least 30 days before any transfers.

President Obama wants to close the Guantánamo prison in Cuba before he leaves office in a little over a year. His administration has stepped up efforts to find countries to take 48 detainees on a transfer list and moved to speed up the work of a parole-like board that might approve the release of others who are currently recommended for indefinite detention.

The Republican-led Congress, however, has shown little interest in lifting a ban on bringing any detainees to a prison inside the United States, which is Mr. Obama’s plan for those who are either facing trial or are deemed too dangerous to release.

Congress isn’t amenable to having the prisoners brought to the United States, and President Obama’s case is greatly weakened by the fact that a former Guantánamo prisoner sent back to Yemen is now the head of Al Qaeda there (Ibrahim Qosi, who is also known as Sheikh Khubayb al Sudani), and many other detainees who were released have joined the Islamic State (ISIS).   https://stellasplace1.com/2015/12/10/ex-guantanamo-detainee-now-leading-al-qaeda-in-yemen/