On January 22, 2009, President Barack Obama signed an Executive Order directing the Central Intelligence Agency to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba within a year. Some individuals and groups view this as a risky step because the facility known as "Gitmo" is perceived as a secure location to conduct trials of terrorist suspects. Others welcome the move, but believe it could take longer than one year to accomplish.
The Law Library of Congress sponsored a panel discussion titled "Looking Beyond Gitmo: U.S. and Foreign Approaches Toward Legal Treatment of Terrorist Suspects." Panelists included Charles D. Stimson, senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation and former deputy assistant defense secretary for detainee affairs at the Pentagon; and Law Library of Congress legal specialists Clare Feikert, Louis Fisher and Ruth Levush. The panel was moderated by Peter Roudik, assistant director of legal research and head of the Eastern Law Division in the Law Library of Congress.