WASHINGTON: The commander of the US prison at Guantanamo, where 40 “war on terror” detainees are still held after 17 years, has been fired for “loss of confidence,” the military said Monday.
Navy Rear Admiral John Ring was removed Saturday as commander, Joint Task Force-Guantanamo, according to a statement from the US Southern Command, which oversees the prison.
Ring was relieved “due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command,” the statement said.
“This change in leadership will not interrupt the safe, humane, legal care and custody provided to the detainee population at GTMO,” it said.
Ring’s deputy, Army Brig. Gen. John Hussey, has been named acting commander.
No specific reason was given from Ring’s removal, which came less than two months before he was scheduled to leave the position, according to the New York Times.
The Times said the decision came after a month-long investigation of unspecified nature.
The facility, located in a US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was made a prison for suspects captured by US forces following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States and the launch of coalition force strikes on Afghanistan.
It has held nearly 800 captives since then.
In its heydey, it became notorious for harsh interrogations denounced as torture, and for force-feeding of hunger-striking inmates.
Forty prisoners remain today, including alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Most are still waiting for their cases to be heard in on-again-off-again military tribunals.
In the past year, the tribunals have faced a high turnover of judges and military legal staff and lack of clear direction from Washington.
Commander of Guantanamo prison removed
Commander of Guantanamo prison removed
- No specific reason was given from John Ring’s removal, which came less than two months before he was scheduled to leave the position
- The facility, located in a US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was made a prison for suspects captured by US forces following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States
SpaceX acquires xAI in record-setting deal as Musk looks to unify AI and space ambitions
- The deal is the biggest M&A transaction of all time
- Deal values xAI at $250 billion, SpaceX at $1 trillion
Elon Musk said on Monday that SpaceX has acquired his artificial-intelligence startup xAI in a record-setting deal that unifies Musk’s AI and space ambitions by combining the rocket-and-satellite company with the maker of the Grok chatbot. The deal, first reported by Reuters last week, represents one of the most ambitious tie-ups in the technology sector yet, combining a space-and-defense contractor with a fast-growing AI developer whose costs are largely driven by chips, data centers and energy. It could also bolster SpaceX’s data-center ambitions as Musk competes with rivals like Alphabet’s Google, Meta, Amazon-backed Anthropic and OpenAI in the AI sector.
The transaction values SpaceX at $1 trillion, and xAI at $250 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter.
“This marks not just the next chapter, but the next book in SpaceX and xAI’s mission: scaling to make a sentient sun to understand the Universe and extend the light of consciousness to the stars!” Musk said. The purchase of xAI sets a new record for the world’s largest M&A deal, a distinction held for more than 25 years when Vodafone bought Germany’s Mannesmann in a hostile takeover valued at $203 billion in 2000, according to data compiled by LSEG. The combined company of SpaceX and xAI is expected to price shares at about $527 each, another person familiar with the matter said. SpaceX was already the world’s most valuable privately held company, last valued at $800 billion in a recent insider share sale. XAI was last valued at $230 billion in November, according to the Wall Street Journal. The merger comes as the space company plans a blockbuster public offering this year that could value it at over $1.5 trillion, two people familiar with the matter said.
SpaceX, xAI and Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The deal further consolidates Musk’s far-flung business empire and fortunes into a tighter, mutually reinforcing ecosystem – what some investors and analysts informally call the “Muskonomy” – which already includes Tesla, brain-chip maker Neuralink and tunnel firm the Boring Company. The world’s richest man has a history of merging his ventures together. Musk folded social media platform X into xAI through a share swap last year, giving the AI startup access to the platform’s data and distribution. In 2016, he used Tesla’s stock to buy his solar-energy company SolarCity.
The agreement could draw scrutiny from regulators and investors over governance, valuation and conflicts of interest given Musk’s overlapping leadership roles across multiple firms, as well as the potential movement of engineers, proprietary technology and contracts between entities.
SpaceX also holds billions of dollars in federal contracts with NASA, the Department of Defense and intelligence agencies, which all have some authority to review M&A transactions for national security and other risks.
