WASHINGTON, Nov. 25 (UPI) -- The Pentagon official charged with closing the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military prison has resigned, the U.S. Defense Department said.
A Pentagon spokesman said Phillip Carter, named deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee policy in April, resigned Friday, citing "personal issues," The New York Times reported Wednesday.
Carter's departure comes as officials within President Barack Obama's administration acknowledged the military prison will not close by Jan. 22, the deadline Obama announced right after taking office.
The administration also is trying to determine where it will prosecute and house some of the 215 Guantanamo Bay detainees.
Carter, a lawyer and an Army adviser to the Iraqi police in Baquba in 2005 and 2006, handled veterans outreach in during Obama's presidential campaign.
Carter is the second administration person with detainee-related duties to resign this month. Greg Craig, the White House counsel in charge of detainee policy, announced he would leave at the beginning of next year.
