Many Ex-Detainees Returning to Terrorism, Pentagon Documents Say

About one in five of the 560 detainees transferred from Guantanamo Bay to countries abroad are suspected of engaging in terrorist activity, the New York Times reports. The unclassified Pentagon report comes as the Obama administration has learned that a detainee released in 2007 is now working with the al-Qaeda group in Yemen that sponsored the Christmas Day bombing attempt aboard a Detroit-bound airliner.

An earlier Pentagon report, released in May, found that one in seven of the then-534 released detainees was suspected of involvement in terrorist activity.

President Obama inherited 242 detainees and has thus far transferred 44. The administration insists that none of those released under its watch have taken up terrorism, and has sought to distance itself from transfers under the Bush administration. Of the remaining detainees, 92 are from Yemen, and just under 40 have been cleared for transfer. However, Obama this week suspended further transfers.

Obama has pledged to close the Guantanamo prison, but has run into difficulties doing so. Last month, he announced plans to transfer some detainees to an under-used corrections facility in Illinois, but congressional funding for that move is in doubt.