WASHINGTON — The Defense Department is drawing up plans to close the Guantanamo Bay military prison in anticipation that one of President-elect Barack Obama’s first acts will be ordering the elimination of the detention center associated with the abuse of terrorism suspects.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates “has asked his team for a proposal on how to shut (the detention center) down, what would be required specifically to close it and move the detainees from that facility while at the same time, of course, ensuring that we protect the American people from some dangerous characters,” Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morell told reporters Thursday.
Shuttering the facility involves complex issues, such as determining what to do with the tribunals and finding alternative locations to hold detainees, including about 60 who have been approved for repatriation but whose governments don’t want to take them.
