Welcome to the Website
keepUSsecure.comwas started as a web location for people concerned about national security matters to organize and voice collective opinions to policy makers in state capitals and Washington, DC.
The proposal to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay specifically prompted the creation of this site. Over 200 detainees – including those shown above – are being held there in a safe, secure and remote location. The President promised to shut this facility down before having the opportunity to review all the information available and before developing a plan on what to do with those being held there.
There appear to be three options:
- Return the detainees to their home countries. The controversy surrounding this option centers on the concern that some home countries can’t or won’t do as well a job keeping them as the US military is doing at Guantanamo.This comes in addition to legitimate concerns over their well-being and human rights if they are returned home.
- Find a “third party” host country. Any country willing to be essentially bought off by the United States can just as easily be bought off by some other entity. Their motivation is financial rather than rooted in keeping people safe. What happens when the host country decides they need more money? Outsourcing the issue doesn’t make it go away.
- Keep them under U.S. control. The Guantanamo facility is regularly visited by International Red Cross officials and by all accounts appears to be safe for the detainees, secure so they can’t escape and remote from population centers.
So, why are some people promoting the idea of relocating these detainees to the U.S. mainland and possible integrate them into our own prison system – and risk the chance they’ll begin to radicalize that population even further? National security means we are supposed to keep threats at a distance.
What is being done to stop this from happening?
This is where you and keepUSsecure.com can have an impact. By signing the on-line petition your voice will be added to a growing list of people who do not believe Guantanamo detainees should be relocated to American soil or moved anyplace that increases their ability to be a threat. This means Guantanamo needs to stay open and operating.
A bipartisan group of U.S. Representatives have proposed legislation that would require the Governor and State Legislature of any proposed detainee location to provide approval before moving any Guantanamo detainee to their State. This is a good start but it needs to go further and explicitly address concerns about sending Guantanamo detainees home, to third party countries or about future enemy combatants that will be caught.
By taking action now we can encourage Congress to take this first step but to keep pressing forward in order to keep US secure.
Why now?
On his first day in office, the President ordered a full review of his options for shutting down the detention facility. As he begins to weigh those options for a final decision your voice will be important.
The Washington Post reported on Saturday, June 27, 2009 that White House officials were considering an Executive Order to avoid a legislative fight with Congress over shutting down the detention facility. A task force on detainee policy is reportedly due to complete its work on July 21. That deadline was never met. An indication they were having trouble designing a policy to meet political needs.
In a Wall Street Journal article on August 7, 2009, it was reported that John Brennan, President Obama’s advisor for Counterterrorism, said he couldn’t say with certainty that Guantanamo will be shut down by the January 2010 deadline but they were “doing everything possible to ensure that we are able to meet that directive and meet that deadline.” Remember, this is a self-imposed political deadline. Expediency is being put ahead of security. Why?