Pentagon orders Gitmo tribunal judges to ditch side jobs

The Pentagon is directing judges who oversee military tribunals at a high-security detention facility in Cuba to stop juggling cases in other countries and focus solely on closing the cases of detainees charged with terrorism.

Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work instructed the judges to move from their homes to military housing near the courtroom at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Lt. Col. Myles Caggins said. Mr. Work issued the order in a Jan. 7 memo.

There are three judges who oversee the military tribunals. Those judges live in Georgia, Italy and the Washington D.C. area, Lt. Col. Caggins said.

“The change in policy does two things,” he said. “One, it makes their military commission case their primary duty. The second thing it does is it requires them to relocate to the venue where the military commissions occur.”

There are no set dates for when the judges will move because the relocations are subject to military personnel policies and other factors, he said.

The majority of Guantanamo’s law-of-war detainees have been transferred to the jurisdiction of other countries, reducing the population from 679 in 2003 to 127, according to the Miami Herald.

Of the 127 prisoners remaining at Guantanamo, there are 59 who are eligible for transfer and 10 who are currently being prosecuted or are in confinement, Lt. Col. Caggins said.

The remaining 58 prisoners have been deemed “too dangerous to transfer or they might be prosecuted,” he said.