Kansas AG questions feds’ $26K in spending on Gitmo surveys

Kansas AG questions feds' $26K in spending on Gitmo surveys | iNFOnews.ca
FILE - In this Jan. 23, 2015, file photo, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt talks to lawmakers at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. Schmidt released a document Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016, showing that the U.S. Department of Defense spent nearly $26,000 surveying potential sites last year for housing terror suspects now held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He said the spending raises concerns that the federal agency may have violated a prohibition by Congress on spending to move the prisoners to U.S. soil. (Thad Allton/The Topeka Capital-Journal via AP, File)

TOPEKA, Kan. – Kansas’ attorney general has released a document showing that the U.S. Department of Defence spent nearly $26,000 surveying potential sites last year for housing terror suspects now held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Republican Attorney General Derek Schmidt says he’s concerned the federal agency may have violated a prohibition from Congress on spending federal money to move the prisoners to U.S. soil.

Fort Leavenworth, an Army base in Kansas, was among the sites surveyed. Local and state officials strongly oppose moving detainees there.

In a letter Thursday to Kansas’ congressional delegation, Schmidt said he obtained the one-page report after filing a federal lawsuit in July seeking documents related to the Obama administration’s plan to move detainees.

Defence Department spokeswoman Lt. Col. Valerie Henderson says the agency doesn’t comment on ongoing lawsuits.

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