While President Trump is still trying to sort out exactly how to word his executive order, but the plan is clearly to expand the detention center at Guantanamo Bay and start throwing more detainees into the facility.
The Pentagon’s planning ahead on picking up spending at the site.
The Pentagon envisions some $500 million in new spending, with roughly half set aside for a five-bed hospital, leading to criticism that the plan costs $50 million per bed.
Pentagon officials, however, warn that the old hospital is in serious risk of flat out collapsing.
On top of that, the Pentagon wants to spend $124 million to build a new barracks for prison troops, and another $100 million on a “migrant tent city,” which would come with housing for another 5,000 US ground troops.
The Gitmo facilities were described as falling apart years ago, though President Obama’s pretense of eventually closing the detention center outright had them holding off on upgrades.
With Trump eager to fill the location back up, they are facing significant construction costs.
Top photo: Detainees in orange jumpsuits sit in a holding area under the watchful eyes of military police at Camp X-Ray at Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. (AP Photo)