Obama is trying to make good on one of his earliest campaign promises

President Barack Obama on Tuesday unveiled a plan to make good on one of his earliest campaign pledges: to shut down the Guantanamo Bay detention center before his term ends in January.

In a statement from the White House on Tuesday, Obama announced a proposal to close the US military prison in Cuba, which was originally opened in 2002 by former President George W. Bush.

"When it becomes clear that something is not working as intended, when it does not advance our security, we have to change course," Obama said on Tuesday.

"For many years it has been clear that the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay does not advance our national security, it undermines it ...When I talk to other world leaders they bring up the fact that Guantanamo is not resolved." Obama said on Tuesday."

"Keeping this facility open is contrary to our values. It undermines our standing in the world, it is viewed as a stain on our broader record of upholding the highest standards of rule of law."

The long-awaited plan to close Guantanamo dates back to the 2008 presidential campaign. In one of his first official acts as president, he signed an executive order to close the facility within one year.

"I will keep working to shut down the prison at Guantanamo: it's expensive, it's unnecessary, and it only serves as a recruitment brochure for our enemies," Obama said in his final State of the Union address last month.

Despite vehement opposition from Republican members of Congress, Obama has still vowed to shut down the center.

"Despite the politics, we've made progress, with the nearly 800 detainees once held at Guantanamo, more than 85% have already been transferred to other countries," Obama said on Tuesday.

"This is about closing a chapter in our history, it reflects the lessons we've learned since 9/11."

The price of Guantanamo

There are approximately 2,000 military and civilian personnel assigned to Guantanamo and 91 inmates held there.

The holding of the prisoners, coupled with operating expenditures, costs the US close to $180 million a year.

According to the Department of Defense, annual recurring costs at Guantanamo are between $65 million and $85 million higher than any other US facility.

Therefore closing Guantanamo could generate at least $335 million in net savings over  the next 10 years and up to $1.7 billion in net savings over 20 years, according to the Department of Defense. 

Obama's proposal

In short, here are a few key points of Obama's plan to close Guantanamo.

1.      Securely and responsibly transferring to foreign countries detainees who have been designated for transfer by the president's national security team;

2.      Continuing to review the threat posed by those detainees who are not currently eligible for transfer through the Periodic Review Board (PRB);

3.      Identifying individualized dispositions for those who remain designated for continued law of war detention, including possible Article III, military commission, or foreign prosecutions;

4.      Working with the Congress to establish a location in the United States to securely hold detainees whom we cannot at this time transfer to foreign countries or who are subject to military commission proceedings.

Ahead of Obama's announcement, the Pentagon sent assessment teams to facilities including a high-security federal prison in Florence, Colorado, and a military jail at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in order to determine if the facilities were capable of housing high-profile inmates.

The White House plan to close the US prison in Guantanamo Bay references 13 potential sites for detainees to be transferred to US soil but does not endorse a specific facility.

And here's the full plan: