WASHINGTON ( CNN ) -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates has asked Pentagon staff to draw up plans for shutting the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay , Cuba , a Pentagon spokesman said . A detainee is seen through a fence in July at the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay , Cuba . The camp holds about 250 suspected terrorists , down from a peak of roughly 750 men from 40 countries . It houses several top al Qaeda figures , including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed -- the confessed architect of the September 11 , 2001 , attacks . Gates `` has asked his team for a proposal on how to shut it down , what would be required specifically to close it and move the detainees from that facility , while at the same time , of course , ensuring that we protect the American people [ from ] some very dangerous characters , '' Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said Thursday . Morrell described it as a contingency plan in case the new administration wants to take it up early in the new year . President-elect Barack Obama has pledged to close the camp at Guantanamo but has n't set a specific timetable . Gates will continue as defense secretary when Obama takes office . `` I would like to see it closed , '' Gates told Charlie Rose in a PBS interview . `` And I think it will be a high priority for the new administration . '' Officials close to the Obama team said in November that the incoming administration is pondering options , including trying some of the Guantanamo Bay inmates in federal courts , setting up a special national security court to deal with cases involving the most sensitive intelligence information , and releasing some inmates . In an October 31 interview with CNN , Obama said only that he would close the facility `` as quickly as we can do prudently . '' `` I am not going to give a time certain because I think what we have to do is evaluate all those who are still being held in Gitmo , '' he said . `` We have to put in place appropriate plans to make sure they are tried , convicted and punished to the full extent of the law , and that 's going to require , I think , a review of the existing cases , which I have not had the opportunity to do . '' In May , Gates told a Senate committee that efforts to shut down the facility were `` stuck '' over what to do with the inmates .
Camp holds about 250 inmates , down from peak of about 750 . The camp is run by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons and has a capacity for up to 2,400 inmates. Gates anticipates possible move by Barack Obama to close camp . President-elect has pledged to shut down Guantanamo .