Joint Task Force Guantanamo

Joint Task Force Guantanamo
ActiveNovember 2002 – present
Country United States of America
BranchJoint
Part ofUnited States Southern Command
Garrison/HQGuantanamo Bay Naval Base
Motto(s)Honor Bound to Defend Freedom[1]
Websitejtfgtmo.southcom.mil
Commanders
Current
commander
BG Scott W. Hiipakka, USA

Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) is a U.S. military joint task force based at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba on the southeastern end of the base. JTF-GTMO falls under US Southern Command. Since January 2002 the command has operated the Guantanamo Bay detention camps Camp X-Ray and its successors Camp Delta, Camp V, and Camp Echo, where detained prisoners are held who have been captured in the war in Afghanistan and elsewhere since the September 11, 2001 attacks. From the command's founding in 2002 to early 2022, the detainee population has been reduced from 779 to 37.[2] As of October 21, 2022, the unit is under the command of U.S. Army Brigadier General Scott W. Hiipakka.[3]

  1. ^ Carlos Sanchez (17 January 2008). "Honor Bound to Defend Freedom" (PDF). The Wire (JTF-GTMO). p. 15. Retrieved 10 February 2008. [dead link]
  2. ^ Rosenberg, Carol (19 January 2017). "Obama to leave with 41 captives still at Guantánamo, blames politics". Miami Herald. Archived from the original on 4 May 2019. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  3. ^ "Joint Task Force Guantanamo Change of Command". U.S. Southern Command. Retrieved 9 June 2023.[permanent dead link]