All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

In a rare public speech, President Obama's top adviser for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism said that fulfilling the President's promise to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba is the one of the "most challenging issues" that the administration is dealing with.

"Because there are so many different dimensions to this. In terms of prosecutions, whether it's under article three or military commission or transfers or releases or preventative detentions or whatever," John Brennan said in response to a question at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "It is our full intention to close down Guantanamo Bay per the president's direction. And we are doing everything possible that we are able to meet that directive and meet that deadline."

When pressed about the difficulty in meeting the January 2010 deadline for closing the prison, Brennan seemed to suggest that the meeting that goal could come down to the wire.

"I don't have a crystal ball that I can say with certainty because at this point, it is unknowable exactly how many people will be transferred in the next week, month, several months and what the conditions on the ground will be on 1 January and 21 January," said Brennan. "What I'm saying to you as a fact, is that everybody is doing everything possible within the administration to realize the president's goal."

He added that he hopes Congress will work with the administration to bring justice to the families of the victims of the 9/11 attacks and that those responsible for the attacks will be brought to trial.

Robert Hendin is a CBS News White House producer. You can read more of his posts in Hotsheet here.

This story was written by CBS News correspondent Bob Orr

An intelligence source confirms to CBS News' Bob Orr that veteran CIA official John Brennan has been selected by President-Elect Obama to be the new Administration's top counterterrorism adviser.

Brennan's appointment is expected to be made public Friday.

Brennan, who has led Obama's intelligence-transition team, was originally a leading candidate to head the CIA, but withdrew his name from consideration after critics accused him of supporting the Bush Administration's harsh interrogation techniques.

Brennan also served as the first director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) and will be part of Obama's National Security Council and will be the point man for all counterterrorism issues.

The Associated Press reports that Obama "is laying plans to dissolve a White House security panel created in the wake of 9/11 and restructure counterterrorism policy under intelligence veteran John Brennan. The White House Homeland Security Council will remain for a few weeks at least, until Obama finishes a review of its mission, an official close to the incoming administration said Thursday."

Read full post…