President Barack Obama has put the seal on orders to close the Guantánamo Bay military prison in Cuba within a year and bring a halt to harsh interrogation of terrorism suspects.
He signed the executive orders at a White House ceremony. Shutting the controversial camp at Guantánamo will fulfill a promise Mr Obama made during his election campaign.
"The message that we are sending around the world is that the United States intends to prosecute the ongoing struggle against violence and terrorism and we are going to do so vigilantly," Mr Obama said at the signing ceremony in the Oval office.
"We are going to do so effectively and we are going to do so in a manner that is consistent with our values and our ideals," he said.
The presidential order calls for an immediate review of how to deal with the 245 remaining Guantánamo prisoners. Mr Obama said he will form an inter-agency task force to come up with recommendations for the detention and interrogation of enemy combatants captured overseas once Guantánamo is closed.
Earlier this week, Mr Obama ordered an immediate halt for at least 120 days to the Bush administration’s military commissions system for prosecuting detainees at Guantánamo. A military judge yesterday suspended the cases of five suspected plotters of the September 11th attacks and of a young Canadian man at Guantánamo.
Mr Obama also signed an executive order today to improve use of intelligence gathering to promote lawful and humane treatment.
The order bans CIA use of "enhanced" interrogation methods by making all US agencies abide by the Army Field Manual, which bans techniques such as waterboarding, a form of simulated drowning the CIA says was used on three terrorism suspects. Outgoing CIA chief Michael Hayden has defended the techniques and called the Army manual too restrictive.
“Any interrogations taking place are going to have to abide by the Army Field Manual,” Mr Obama said. “We can abide by a rule that says we don’t torture.”
Of the 245 men still held at the camp, the US wants to try about 80 of them on terrorism charges.
Mr Obama said the task force will advise the government on how to deal with prisoners who can't be transferred to other countries and who could pose a serious danger to the United States but cannot be tried because of various problems related to evidence.
Washington has cleared 50 other detainees for release but cannot return them to their home countries because of the risk they would be tortured or persecuted there. Around 500 others have been freed or transferred to other governments since 2002.
The US has sought for months to persuade allies to accept Guantánamo detainees who could face persecution if repatriated to their home countries.
Former president George W. Bush has said many countries were unwilling to take any detainees. But the presidential order says diplomatic efforts by the Obama administration could lead to new locations for a "substantial number" of current detainees.
Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern yesterday signalled a softening of State opposition to accepting such detainees, noting that Mr Obama's decision to suspend military trials at Guantánamo had created "a new context". Mr Ahern said Ireland would now be prepared to resettle Guantánamo detainees if there was a common European Union approach.