Gitmo Prison to Cost More than $450 Million for 2013

According to a new Pentagon assessment

The cost to run the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay in 2013 is $454 million — a figure significantly higher than previous estimates, according to a new Pentagon assessment.

The newest price tag, which was sent to the House Armed Services Committee by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, will fuel Democratic arguments that Guantánamo is too expensive to continue holding detainees.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) announced the new cost assessment at a Senate hearing to examine closing the prison, held to ramp up congressional support for shuttering the facility.