Washington.– Plans to close the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within President Barack Obama’s one-year time frame are on track, the Pentagon’s top lawyer said.

The military held about 240 detainees at the center when Obama pledged days after his inauguration in January to close the facility. Since then, the interagency group assigned to reviewing the cases has made recommendations on more than half, including approving the transfer of more than 50 detainees to other countries, Jeh C. Johnson, the Defense Department general counsel, told the House Armed Services Committee.

“Additional reviews are ongoing, and the process is on track,”, Johnson said. “We remain committed to closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility within the one-year time frame ordered by the president.”

Obama announced plans for the closure of Guantanamo Bay as part of a series of executive orders signed Jan. 22. That legislation created two task forces, one of which is responsible for going file by file through each detainee at Guantanamo Bay, making decisions about how to render justice consistent with U.S. laws and values.