REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, WASHINGTON - The transfer of prisoners out of Guantanamo Bay has ground to a halt amid a slow Pentagon approval process, causing deep frustration within the administration and raising doubts that President Barack Obama will be able to fulfill his campaign promise to close the prison for terrorism suspects at the US Navy base in Cuba.

A detainee sent back to his native Algeria in March is the only prisoner to have moved out this year, beyond the controversial exchange of five Taliban members in return for long-held captive US Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was captured in Afghanistan.

The slow pace is the result of the law that gives Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel — not the commander in chief, Obama — the final authority to transfer any of the 149 terror suspects being held at Guantanamo. Pentagon officials say they must carefully consider the risks before signing off, given that others have returned to terrorism.

The White House has reminded the Pentagon that recidivism risks must be weighed against the danger to the United States in keeping Guantanamo open. Obama has said Guantanamo's continued operation hurts US standing overseas and is a recruitment tool for terrorists.

"The president would absolutely like to see more progress in our efforts to close Guantanamo," Obama counterterrorism adviser Lisa Monaco said. "He wants it closed. He's pushing his own team very hard, raising it weekly with me, with Secretary Hagel, with Secretary (of State John) Kerry. He also wants Congress to act to remove the restrictions in place that are making it even harder to move forward."

For years, Congress used its budget power to block Obama from making transfers. The president announced in May 2013 that he was appointing special envoys for Guantanamo closure at the State and Defense departments to move prisoners out "to the greatest extent possible." Congress responded by lifting some of the complicated restrictions for transfers, allowing them when Hagel determines steps have been taken to reduce the risk that detainees will re-engage in the fight.

Transferring out approved detainees is only the first step to shuttering the prison established in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. A more complicated question looms over how to handle the most dangerous prisoners. Congress has prohibited Obama from bringing them to the United States for detention or trial, leaving them nowhere to be held other than Guantanamo. 

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