A detainee is seen through a fence in July at the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The camp holds about 250 suspected terrorists, down from a peak of roughly 750 men from 40 countries.
It houses several top al Qaeda figures, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed -- the confessed architect of the September 11, 2001, attacks.
Gates "has asked his team for a proposal on how to shut it down, what would be required specifically to close it and move the detainees from that facility, while at the same time, of course, ensuring that we protect the American people [from] some very dangerous characters," Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said Thursday.
Morrell described it as a contingency plan in case the new administration wants to take it up early in the new year.
President-elect Barack Obama has pledged to close the camp at Guantanamo but hasn't set a specific timetable. Gates will continue as defense secretary when Obama takes office.
"I would like to see it closed," Gates told Charlie Rose in a PBS interview. "And I think it will be a high priority for the new administration."
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