Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has ordered the Pentagon to draw up plans for closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, anticipating that President-elect Barack Obama may wish to address the closure, one of his campaign promises, soon after taking office.

Gates said in an interview yesterday that he believes “we can provide alternatives” to the continuation of the detention facility, infamous around the world as a symbol of America’s harsh treatment of detainees during the war on terror.

As was reported earlier, the Gates proposal is probably going to center around new legislation designed to prevent detainees from being allowed into the United States. Exactly what they will do with them is not clear, but Portuguese Foreign Minister Luis Amado has urged the rest of the European Union to “step forward,” and “send a clear signal of our willingness to help the US government in that regard, namely through the resettlement of detainees.”