As the Guantanamo Bay detention center enters its ninth year of use, the Obama administration is still undecided about what to do with the detainees and how to replace the facility.

The activist group Witness Against Torture chose the anniversary to protest outside the White House dressed as hooded detainees, demanding that Obama close the prison. The group has also planned a hunger strike for 12 days until Jan. 22 -- the deadline Obama set for closing the prison shortly after he took office.

Some critics like Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., are opposed to trying detainees in American criminal courts or releasing them to countries such as Yemen, where the attempted Christmas Day terrorist plot was allegedly planned.

According to recent polling, more Americans are willing to keep the detention center open now than in November.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is being held in a federal prison in Michigan and will likely be tried in U.S. District Court in Detroit after his arrest in an apparent attempt to blow up an airliner on Christmas Day. Several legal and international policy experts say that since the crime was committed in Michigan airspace and he was arrested when he landed, he should be tried in Michigan.

The Obama administration is struggling to find funds to replace Guantanamo Bay prison, a stumbling block that will likely delay the shuttering of the prison until 2011 at the earliest.

Obama has ordered an Illinois prison to accept prisoners transferred from Guantanamo, but the move will be subject to congressional approval.

Obama admitted today that Guantanamo Bay prison will not close by his January 2010 deadline, and while he said he hoped to shutter it sometime next year, he declined to give a new deadline.

"People, I think understandably, are fearful after a lot of years where they were told that Guantanamo was critical to keep terrorists out," Obama said. Closing the prison is "also just technically hard," he added

Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder have announced that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four accused 9/11 co-conspirators currently detained at Guantanamo Bay will be tried in a federal civilian court in New York City.

Ten European countries, including Britain, Ireland and Spain, have told the Obama administration they are willing to accept Guantanamo Bay detainees, the Washington Post reports. The administration has also had positive talks with several other European Union nations, as well as Australia and Georgia. However, the Post adds, more than half the 229 detainees have not had their cases reviewed, and officials have not decided what to do about longer-term detainees or those who would be prosecuted.

The Senate voted 90-6 on Tuesday to deny funding in the supplemental for closing Guantanamo Bay. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle said they wouldn't approve the funding until the administration comes up with a plan for relocating detainees.

House Appropriations Chairman David Obey rejected (subscription) the administration's request for $80 billion to shut down Guantanamo Bay.

"I personally favor what the administration's talking about doing, but so far as we can tell there is yet no concrete program for that," Obey said. "And while I don't mind defending a concrete program, I'm not much interested in wasting my energy defending a theoretical program."

In its FY09 supplemental spending bill, the administration is asking for $80 million to begin shutting down the Guantanamo Bay facility and start relocating detainees. But lawmakers expressed concern (subscription) about a lack of details surrounding the closure. Senate Appropriations Chairman Daniel Inouye said that many of his colleagues want to know the "precise plan" for closing the facility before they can support funding.

The funding requests $30 million for the Justice Department to review the 240 detainees and $50 million to the Defense Department to relocate the detainees.

In response to inquiries from federal judges into the government's legal basis for holding detainees at Guantanamo, the Justice Department abandoned the term "enemy combatant." The administration maintained, however, the broad right to detain terrorism suspects who "substantially supported" al-Qaeda and the Taliban, according to a court filng to the judges.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton appointed longtime diplomat Daniel Fried to be the full-time envoy to Guantanamo Bay. Fried will be responsible for negotiating the transfer of detainees. Before taking this position, Fried was the top U.S. diplomat to Europe, serving as the assistant secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs.

Obama signed an executive order to close the detention facilities at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in the next year and review every detainee for disposition. He also established two special task forces to address detention policy options and interrogation and transfer policy.

Obama drafted an executive order today to close the Guantanamo Bay facility within a year. When the order will be issued, however, has not been specified.

Obama has made closing the prison facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a high priority. But it's "more difficult than I think a lot of people realize," Obama said Jan. 11 on "This Week," and it is unlikely to happen within the first 100 days. He stressed that "our legal teams are working in consultation with our national security apparatus as we speak to help design exactly what we need to do." Attorney General-designate Eric Holder echoed Obama’s statements at his confirmation hearing Jan. 15. He said the process will take an "extended period," which will prevent closing the facility "as quickly as we would like." He reiterated, however, that the administration still plans on closing it.