Obama to make statement on Guantanamo amid plan to close prison

President Barack Obama will deliver a statement on Guantanamo on Tuesday, the White House said, as his administration prepared to present US lawmakers with his plan to shutter the controversial military prison.

Obama, who is scheduled to speak at 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT), had pledged to close the facility at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since he took office in 2009.

On Monday, the Pentagon said it expected to meet Tuesday's deadline to submit Obama's plan to Congress as the president seeks to make good on his plan before his term ends in January.

US officials have said the plan will call for sending detainees who have been cleared for transfer to their homelands or third countries and bringing remaining prisoners to US soil to be held in maximum-security prisons.

Congress has banned such transfers to the United States since 2011. The plan will also cite the possibility of sending some prisoners overseas for prosecution and trial, according to one US official.

However, the White House will not name the alternative US prisons under consideration for housing detainees, US officials said. The administration wants to avoid fuelling any political outcry over specific sites during a US presidential election year.