President-elect Obama’s advisers are quietly crafting a proposal to make good on a promise to close the Guantanamo Bay prison.

It would ship dozens, if not hundreds, of imprisoned terrorism suspects to the United States to face criminal trials, but could require creation of a controversial new system of justice.

Obama has described Guantanamo as a “sad chapter in American history” and said generally that the U.S. legal system is equipped to handle the detainees.

Detainees whose cases are most entangled in highly classified information might have to go before a new court designed especially to handle sensitive national security cases.

The move would be a sharp deviation from the Bush administration, which established military tribunals to prosecute detainees.

Advisers spoke on condition of anonymity because the plans aren’t final.

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