WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- The White House is preparing a list of options by which it could close the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention facility without congressional involvement, senior administration officials said.
President Barack Obama has long advocated closing the facility, which houses foreign terrorism suspects, and transferring detainees to prisons in the United States and to other countries willing to accept them. Such a use of executive power, though, would likely bring a strong reaction from legislators. The Guantanamo Bay facility currently holds 149 inmates, detained in the United States' campaign on terrorism. While Obama prefers a legislative resolution to closing the facility, executive action -- by which Congress would be circumvented -- remains within his legal authority. House Republicans, though, have threatened to challenge that authority, over other matters, in court.