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In the run-up to the presumed closure of Guantanamo Bay, the Obama administration has tightened access to the detention camps and made it tougher for reporters to speak with the guards and prisoners at the site.
The adjustments come as the administration struggles to follow through on its pledge to shutter the controversial Cuba-based facility by January, a deadline officials acknowledge might not be met.
But some question the decision to rein in access -- since the administration ran on a platform of transparency.
American Civil Liberties Union Director Anthony Romero said the access problems grate against the administration's pledges.
"It's frustrating," Romero told FOX News during an interview at the Navy base.
He said his organization has never been allowed inside the detention camps -- not under the Bush or Obama administrations -- but suggested that he was expecting more access since Jan. 20.
"Especially now in light of the Obama administration saying they wish to have greater transparency, it's more than a bit ironic that members of the press are now being denied access to the camps when they had it before under President Bush," he said.
The beat reporters who routinely cover the military commissions at the base used to be invited on military-planned side trips to the detention camps when court was not in session. The trips allowed journalists to film, photograph and write about conditions inside.
That is no longer the case. Several sources told FOX News the decision to discontinue the trips came from Washington and the Pentagon.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman offered a brief explanation when asked about the decision-making process.
Rest of story here:
Obama Administration Limits Access to Guantanamo, Raising Transparency Questions - Political News - FOXNews.com