Never mind closing Guantanamo, Trump might make it bigger

President Barack Obama is running out of time to fulfill his longstanding promise to shutter the prison at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Opened in 2002 as a makeshift camp to hold men captured in the early fight against al-Qaida, Guantanamo has become a symbol of the strong-handed U.S. response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The Obama administration has repatriated or resettled nearly 180 Guantanamo prisoners.

An administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss information that has not yet been made public, said officials expect to complete a "substantial number" of those transfers before Obama leaves office on Jan. 20.

Sen. Pat Roberts, a Republican who opposes moving inmates, said last week that the Defense Department told him months ago that "the Obama administration had neither the time nor the money to close Gitmo and move detainees to Fort Leavenworth," in Roberts' home state of Kansas.

Robert Chesney, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, expects Trump to send some newly captured detainees, perhaps Islamic State fighters captured in Iraq or Syria, to Guantanamo.