During his 2008 campaign for the presidency, Obama pledged to close Guantanamo Bay, and during his second day in office, he issued an executive order [text; JURIST report] directing the prison to be closed. However, in the face of congressional opposition [JURIST report], the Obama administration missed its self-imposed deadline to close the military prison, and, following the 2010 mid-term election, congress effectively halted [JURIST backgrounder] plans to close the facility. Thursday's signing of the NDAA will further hinder Obama's ability to close Guantanamo Bay, despite a recent report [text, PDF; JURIST report] from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) [official website] that Guantanamo detainees could be safely absorbed by prisons throughout the US. Forum contributor Jonathan Hafetz argues that Obama bears responsibility [JURIST op-ed] for the political missteps that prevented Guantanamo from closing and criticizes him for embracing the "larger detention system that Guantanamo embodies." Conversely, Forum contributor David Frakt agrees that the Obama administration is partially responsible, but believes congress is largely to blame [JURIST op-ed] for passing a "series of increasingly stringent spending restrictions which have made it virtually impossible to transfer most detainees out of Guantanamo."