Guantanamo Bay: A Cost-Benefit Analysis

This paper compares the costs of detention operations at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba against the benefits derived from holding suspected terrorists there. When Operation Enduring Freedom began, the Bush Administration needed a place to detain enemy fighters captured on the battlefield that the US deemed to be a high threat while also possessing a high intelligence value. The Administration issued policy guidance concerning detainees and the detention center at Guantanamo Bay opened soon thereafter. In the following six years, there has been a great deal of legal analysis and ongoing litigation concerning the legality of the detentions at Guantanamo Bay, including the application of the Geneva Convention to detainees and the permissibility of the pending military commissions. These continue to be contentious issues as the US forges ahead in its efforts in the Global War on Terror (GWOT). Putting the legal questions aside, it is possible to analyze the issues at Guantanamo Bay from a purely cost-benefit standpoint. This paper seeks to conduct this analysis by comparing costs, including monetary, personnel, negative public relations, investigative and Congressional costs against the benefits of operations, including intelligence, positive public relations and deterrence benefits realized by the continued detention of enemy fighters.