The cat is out of the bag: the Obama team really doesn’t have a clue how to shut down Guantanamo and what to do with the detainees. As John McCormack notes, National Security Advisor Jim Jones made clear on This Week that there really isn’t a game plan.

John McCain on Sunday did not mince words in assessing the administration’s non-plan for Guantanamo:

What should have taken place, in my view, was the announcement of the closing and an announcement of exactly how we’re going to put these people on trial, (and) where you’re going to put people that are enemy combatants. . .I would say, I’m not going to close Guantanamo until I have a comprehensive approach to every aspect of this problem.

The realization that there is no plan to back up the grandstanding decision has spawned bipartisan concern and criticism. As Kimberly Srassel observed:

I mean, before the Republicans introduced this, you already had Democrats on the Hill who were saying, ‘We’re not going to fund this closing of Guantanamo Bay until we actually know what you’re doing,’ because they’re already hearing back from their constituents. . . So he’s first going to have to get through his own party to get money and funding and support on this, and then — and then deal with questions of Republican legislation.

Well this is what comes from confusing campaign rhetoric with national security policy. The administration has a choice now (I know they don’t like admitting there are such choices but this one is inescapable): beat a hasty retreat on the “Close Guantanamo!” hooey –or start a scattershot effort to distribute detainees in the U.S. and around the world. The former may be an embarrassment, the latter will be a catastrophe.