This week the Obama Administration announced that it would not rule out any executive action to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay and transfer the remaining terrorists housed there to sites in the mainland, including Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.

Threatening to shut down Guantanamo Bay by executive action shows president’s blatant disregard for the law and the will of the American people. This is an egregious overstep by the White House to fulfill a campaign promise and the president’s alleged legacy – with no regard for our national security.

I have been an outspoken opponent of closing Guantanamo Bay, especially of transferring these prisoners to Kansas. The Leavenworth community has been very loud and strong in its opposition to the transfer. To ignore the people of the community and the Congress is an outrage.

And the Wall Street Journal agrees. Let me share with you part of the paper’s editorial today:

“President Obama is about to send Congress a doomed plan to close the terrorist prison at Guantanamo Bay, so he can then shut down Gitmo the way he does nearly anything—by executive order.

“The political dance around Gitmo’s closure has come around every year in the Obama Presidency. Congress puts a ban on transferring detainees in the defense bill, and Mr. Obama threatens a veto. This year is the first he’s followed through.

“Even Mr. Obama’s allies admit his plan can’t pass. Democratic Rep. Adam Smith of the Armed Services Committee, who favors closure, says ‘we don’t have the votes.’

“Mr. Obama’s inability to negotiate honestly with the legislature is a hallmark of his Presidency. More damaging is the precedent he is setting by making major policy changes with no more than a wave of his executive hand. Press reports note that Administration lawyers are working on legal justifications for the Gitmo order. Decision first, the law later.”

The Wall Street Journal is right! Congress has consistently stopped Obama by law from closing Guantanamo and moving remaining detainees to the U.S. The only conscientious way forward on this issue is to maintain detention at Guantanamo Bay. To do otherwise would be a violation of U.S. law and a violation of the will of the American people.

I have gone head-to-head with this Administration on many issues, but none are as close to my core as my strong belief and commitment to protecting the United States, the people of Kansas, and all Americans.

I currently have a hold on the president’s nominee for Secretary of the Army, and I will place any hold necessary to prevent this transfer of prisoners to Kansas from happening. Ft. Leavenworth – the intellectual center of the Army, home to the Command and General Staff College, training international officers among our Armed Forces’ best and brightest – is NOT where these terrorists belong.

I'm confident our current facility at Guantanamo Bay remains the best, and only, answer to house these terrorists. As I have said before – not on my watch will any terrorist be placed in Kansas or anywhere in the homeland.

I joined Senators Tim Scott of South Carolina and Cory Gardner of Colorado – whose states also contain potential sites to house these terrorists – for a press conference yesterday condemning this action by the White House. To view that press conference, click image below.

I also spoke on the Senate floor on this issue, which you can view by clicking the image below.

If you would like to voice your support for keeping terrorists out of Kansas, call the White House directly at (202) 456-1111. Tell the President moving these detainees is a risk to your security. I will continue this fight in any way I can.