WASHINGTON: A key report ordered by President Barack Obama to close the internationally condemned Guantanamo prison will be delayed six months, but officials insisted on Monday things were still on track to shut it down by January.

Six months after Obama signed the closure order, fewer than 20 inmates have been transferred out of the US military base in Cuba. Currently, there are 229 detainees at Guantanamo.

Due to disagreements between lawmakers and the administration over the fate of Guantanamo inmates, Obama aides said a task force developing a new policy on terrorism detainees would miss its Tuesday deadline for a full report, and instead presenting an interim report.

The provisional report said the decision on where to prosecute detainees will be made by lawyers from the Justice Department’s National Security Division, along with personnel from the Defense Department, including military prosecutors.

The report also said that various factors will be considered, including the need to protect intelligence sources and methods, and “evidentiary problems that might attend prosecution in the other jurisdiction,” according to the report.

Another task force, appointed to review detainee interrogation policies, also missed its Tuesday deadline and received a two-month extension for its report.

Obama created the task forces shortly after taking office in January. White House officials said the delay would not affect the closure of Guantanamo Bay, scheduled for January 2010.

The six-month delay in deciding on detention policy, coupled with the need to craft and pass legislation, suggests that the closing of the Guantanamo prison will come down to the wire.

“They have asked for a six-month extension,” a senior administration official told reporters hours before the investigative group was due to announce their findings.

“We need to go through these questions thoroughly... to make sure we have them resolved in a manner consistent with the role that they will play in national security,” the administration official said on condition of anonymity.

“We want to get this right and not to have another multiple years of uncertainty around these issues but rather be able to present to the Congress and American people a plan with legal foundation.”

The president has been hampered in his goal to shut down Guantanamo by congressional lawmakers opposed to transferring the detainees to US soil for trial. To date, more than 50 detainees have been approved for transfer to other countries.

The interim memo submitted by the task force dealing with detention policy calls for prosecuting the detainees either in civilian courts or military commissions. The memo says the prosecutions must occur as soon as possible, but insists the accused be given “a full and fair opportunity to contest the charges against them.”

Congress has given the Obama administration until the end of September to provide a detailed plan showing how it will to close the facility and deal with the transfer of prisoners.

The delayed reports are the latest in a series of setbacks for Obama’s plan to close the facility. Earlier this month, a former Guantanamo prosecutor told the House Judiciary Committee that the military commission system was “broken beyond repair.”

Also that week, a former US Navy judge advocate general told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the Military Commissions Act of 2006 should be “repealed rather than reformed.”

Last May, Obama announced that he would use the controversial military commissions system to try some Guantanamo Bay detainees.

The move drew criticism from human rights groups, which called the plan “fatally flawed,” adding to a long line of criticism of commissions for admitting some evidence that is barred from federal court, including hearsay or coerced confessions.

In its effort to resettle detainees, the government is, according to some reports, “making good progress with a number of European countries and countries outside of Europe.”