The White House said Friday that the Obama administration still has time to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center before President Barack Obama leaves office. White House spokesperson Josh Earnest told reporters that the United States is working to reach agreement with countries around the world to transfer 53 eligible Guantanamo prisoners from the facility in Cuba. "This is something that the Department of Defense and the State Department in particular are hard at work on, and our goal is not to get the population at the prison of Guantanamo Bay below 100, our goal is to get that prison population to zero," Earnest said. "I believe that it's possible that there would be some additional transfers that would take place before the end of the year, but there is obviously a long process that's in place, including one that is prolonged based on congressional mandate that requires Congress to be informed 30 days before one of these transfers can move forward," Earnest said.
