The Pacific Council Task Force on GTMO has published a report calling on the United States to fairly and transparently expedite the Guantánamo trials by putting federal judges in charge.

Read the report

In presenting a plan to close Gitmo this week, President Obama lamented that the military cases being tried there "have resulted in years of litigation without a resolution." Justice would be swifter and surer, he suggested, if detainees could be prosecuted in federal courts. 

The GTMO Task Force recognized that trying detainees on U.S. soil is also enormously contentious. Their report argues that the United States could achieve a similar result—and avoid a political impasse—by simply bringing federal judges to Guantánamo.

Since 2013, the Pacific Council has sent 17 members to the Guantánamo proceedings as official nongovernmental observers; together, they have spent 90 days on the island. Read more about our Guantánamo Bay Observer Program.