Eye On Cuba

THERE ARE 154 DETAINEES IN GUANTANAMO BAY. Trumbull is determined to bring the number down to zero.

As deputy in the U.S. state Department’s office of the Special Envoy for Guantanamo Closure, Trumbull and his colleagues are responsible for carrying out a mandate by President Barack Obama to close the detention center. in December 2013 Trumbull’s office transferred nine detainees back to their home countries or resettled them in other countries. There are 77 more detainees currently approved for transfers, he says, and the challenge will be finding places to send them. For each detainee, Trumbull and his team must navigate a number of restrictions imposed by Congress. His office must also negotiate appropriate security and humane treatment assurances with the receiving countries.

Further limiting transfer efforts, Congress has barred any detainees from being moved to the united states. “This transfer of nine detainees was very important, because from the beginning of 2010 until this past summer we transferred only four detainees out of guantanamo,” says Trumbull. “we’re making significant progress now, and we’ll build on that progress throughout this year.” Trumbull began serving as the deputy special envoy last October, though his relationship with Cuba ex- tends back to his sophomore year of high school, when he was first exposed to the country through a Rotary Exchange trip to Central america. “my trips to Cuba reaffirmed my interest in studying other countries around the world and foreign relations,” he says.

Trumbull reviewed detention centers in Afghanistan for the U.S. State Department’s Office of the Legal Advisor.

“The president wants Guantanamo closed—we’re going to make it happen.”