Freed Gitmo Inmates “Reengage” In Terrorism

Two years after the Pentagon revealed that many Guantanamo detainees rejoin terrorist missions after leaving the military prison, President Obama’s National Intelligence Director confirms that one in four resume terrorist activities against the United States after being released.

As the president fulfills his promise of returning America to the “moral high ground” by closing the detention facility at the U.S. Naval Base in Cuba, the number will only rise. Dozens of suspected terrorists have been freed from Guantanamo since Obama issued an executive order last year calling for a comprehensive “review” of all detainees and a total of 598 have been released so far.

One hundred fifty are confirmed or suspected of “reengaging in terrorist or insurgent activities after transfer,” according to a report issued by the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to Congress. At least 83 “remain at large” and if additional detainees are released, some will “reengage in terrorist or insurgent activities”, says the DNI assessment.

Created by Congress in 2004 to force collaboration between the nation’s spy agencies, the DNI claims to be the country’s first line of defense, serving as the head of the intelligence community by integrating foreign, military and domestic intelligence that protects the U.S. from terrorist threats.

The newly released DNI assessment is hardly earth-shattering news. Nearly two years ago the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency disclosed a sharp rise in the number of Guantanamo detainees who rejoin terrorist missions after leaving U.S. custody. Using data such as fingerprints, pictures and other reports the defense agency, which gathers foreign military intelligence, determined that the number of Middle Eastern terrorists who returned to “the fight” after being released nearly doubled in a short time.

Earlier this year a British newspaper reported that at least a dozen Guantanamo inmates rejoined Al Qaeda in Yemen shortly after being released. A terrorist hotbed and popular Al Qaeda training ground, Yemen has been deemed a high security threat by the State Department and it’s where the Christmas Day airline bomber proudly trained.